


Her Healing Love

by pseudomonalisa



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Canon Divergence, Caretaking, Cuddling, F/F, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Healing, Hugging, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Intimacy, No Character Death, No Sexual Content, Nonsexual Bathing, Protective Emma, Season 2, nonsexual intimacy, protective regina
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-10
Updated: 2018-09-10
Packaged: 2019-07-02 02:59:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 30,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15787575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pseudomonalisa/pseuds/pseudomonalisa
Summary: AU of “The Cricket Game” season 2, episode 10. After viewing the memory in the dreamcatcher, Emma’s faith in Regina is only strengthened and they work together to find out who framed Regina. When Emma saves Regina from a dreadful curse she is left near death, and Regina is the only one who can help her. In the process, love blossoms into something unexpectedly beautiful.Content warning: some violence and blood.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to the talented swansaloft, who created not one but THREE amazing photomanips for this story! Check them out here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15805998
> 
> And my deepest gratitude to my beta Sarah, without whom this story would have had the most anticlimactic ending EVER, and everyone would have said weird uncharacteristic things, and the vengeful ghosts of a thousand forgotten and misplaced commas would have descended upon us all.

Emma stared intently into the dreamcatcher, the yellow hues distorting the edges of the image. Behind her, David, Snow, and Gold edged closer to see the scene that was being displayed. _We’ll get to the bottom of this soon_ , Emma thought to herself. Sure enough, Archie appeared and opened his office door to reveal Regina. Emma watched as the brunette passed by, partially hidden behind a lamp.

“Regina…” she whispered, not wanting to believe what she was seeing. The black-coated figure approached Archie and Emma couldn’t suppress a flinch as Regina seized Archie by the throat. _No._ Mary Margaret cried out in horror and turned away.

“No!” Emma exclaimed. “She wouldn’t!”

“You’ve seen it with your own eyes, dearie,” Gold said, gesturing to the dreamcatcher. Emma shook it at him violently.

“What did you do to this thing?” her voice rose in anger and disbelief. _This would destroy everything she’s worked for with Henry! She would_ never _do this. Right?_

“The real question should be ‘what have _you_ done to it?’” Gold replied, gesturing at the dreamcatcher which was now glowing white and beginning to replay the scene but without the yellow tint. This time, voices echoed through the webbing. The sounds of Archie greeting Regina were garbled but a quiet voice accompanied them.

“Something’s wrong,” it began, and the point of view shifted slightly as Pongo sat up and sniffed. “Something’s wrong,” came again, overlaid by a warning growl. They heard a snuffled intake of breath before their vantage point jumped again.

“Impostor!” the bark came translated through the dreamcatcher as a shout. “Who are you!” They heard Archie’s rebuke come through muffled, because the dog’s focus was solely on the woman.

“You are not Regina,” came a growl from Pongo, as Regina’s piercing dark eyes seemed to look straight back at Emma through the device. “You do not smell like Regina. Who _are_ you?”

Pongo got to his feet, but Regina moved far too quickly. In an instant, she was in front of Archie and had him by the throat. Pongo’s shouts of retribution were quickly stifled by a surge of light blue magic and he froze in place, as did the image before them. Emma gasped.

“It’s not her,” she whispered. Then louder, “it’s _not_ her! That magic – hers is red or purple. Never light blue.” She whirled around to her parents, who were still holding each other.

“You’ve seen her magic thousands of times. Has it ever looked like that before?” David shook his head reluctantly and Emma continued. “And that voice – that had to be Pongo! He could tell it wasn’t her. Someone is framing Regina and I _almost_ believed it!” She threw the dreamcatcher to the floor.

“I don’t know what you have to do with this, but I _will_ find out,” she snarled at Gold before turning on her heel and storming out of the shop with her parents close behind.

“Wait, Emma! Where are you going?”

“I’m going to talk to Regina. She deserves to know that whoever is setting her up is a powerful magic user. She is probably in danger, and by association so are we. Get Henry, and I’ll call you later.”

 

* * *

  

“Regina!” came the muffled shout from the door accompanied by hammering fists. “Regina, open up!” The woman in question rolled her eyes and wearily got to her feet.

_Figures that her faith in me has finally run out._

Regina spared a moment to make sure her stove was turned off. It wouldn’t do to have her house burn down while she was stuck in a jail cell. She turned the lights off as she walked past and frowned. The one person who had believed in her was turning against her. It hurt to lose her only ally and her freedom all at once.

Still mentally preparing herself for her imminent imprisonment, Regina opened the door.

“It wasn’t you!” Emma blurted out in lieu of any form of greeting. Regina’s sarcastic comment about being handcuffed died in her throat. Emma rushed to explain what she’d seen. Regina visibly paled when Emma told her about the magic and Emma was shocked to see fear in her eyes.

“Regina?”

“It wasn’t Rumpel either. As the Dark One, his magic can never be that color. Unless the Blue Fairy has made a habit of murdering people, which I doubt, we are facing an entirely new threat.” Regina’s eyes darkened and she hunched her shoulders.

“Do you have any ideas?” Emma asked cautiously.

“The only way to know for sure is to examine Pongo. The attacker’s magic will have left some residue, and from there we may have a chance of identifying them.”

As they headed into town, Emma glanced frequently at Regina, not sure quite what to make of her somber expression. She had never seen Regina look so preoccupied and it put her on edge. The bell rang as they walked into Gold’s shop, and he put down his sandwich with an annoyed scowl.

“Can’t a man have a peaceful lunch anymore? What do you want _now_ , Miss Swan? To threaten me some more, perhaps?” Regina cast an inquisitive glance at Emma but she ignored both Regina’s gaze and the sarcastic jab.

“We need to borrow Pongo, that’s all. And I’m sorry I threatened you – I know you had nothing to do with this.” Belle and Rumpel both stared at Emma in surprise as she rounded the counter and returned with Pongo.

“I’ll bring him right back,” she promised, and left with Regina who hadn’t said a word. Emma led them to a bench outside the shop and sat down.

“All right, what’s eating you?” she asked as soon as Regina took a seat beside her. The brunette sighed, somewhat frustrated that Emma had read her so effortlessly.

“I know who I really _hope_ isn’t behind this,” Regina began, “but with my luck, she is.”

“Who?” Emma asked. The sight of Regina so rattled secretly terrified her.

“My mother,” Regina replied simply, her eyes fixed to the pavement. She knew Emma had met Cora. She’d gotten most of the story by eavesdropping on Snow’s conversations during the party the other night - how Cora had tried to deceive them and had then attacked them repeatedly in her efforts to get to Storybrooke.

“Oh,” Emma muttered. “Right.”

Cora certainly hadn’t made the best impression on Emma, but to create this much distress in the usually unflappable Regina Mills? _Maybe she’s even worse than I thought…_

“That will only be an issue if it was her behind this. Hopefully it was someone a lot less… potent,” Regina said, absently stroking Pongo’s ears.

“So how do we figure out who did this?” Emma asked.

“I will not go back on my promise to Henry,” Regina began firmly, “so _you_ will be the one to determine that. It’s not a complicated bit of magic once you know what to do, but for your lack of training I’ll write out an equivalent incantation phonetically. Speak it aloud with your hand on Pongo, and the spell will send out an echo of any past magic that has ever touched him. We will both feel it, and that’s how we’ll know.”

“Sounds easy enough,” Emma said as Regina took out a piece of paper and began to write a string of letters on it. When she was done, it looked for all the world to be just a jumble of nonsense.

 _Kind of like a video game activation code,_ Emma thought. But she shrugged, put her hand on Pongo’s head, and did her best to slowly and clearly enunciate each syllable.

For a moment nothing happened, but then a gray mist came up over her hand and a small shockwave radiated out from Pongo. For a split second, Emma would have sworn there was a breeze and sand under her boots, and the horrible sensation of someone else’s hand buried in her chest. And then it was gone, blown away like smoke.

She looked to her side and saw Regina white as a sheet, curled in on herself with her eyes squeezed shut as if she was in pain.

“Regina!” Emma shouted in concern, and brown eyes shot open.

“No!” Regina cried out reflexively. She looked around in unconcealed panic for just a moment, before finally shuddering back to reality. Emma was reaching out as if to put a steadying hand on her shoulder, but Regina shook her head.

“I’m fine,” she said. She was pleased to find that, despite her obvious lie, her voice was only a little bit shaky.

“It’s her,” Emma said quietly. “Cora is in Storybrooke.”

 

* * *

  

While Regina collected herself, Emma quickly returned Pongo to Gold’s shop. She informed him of their news, but didn’t stick around long enough to see more than the expression of shock her words elicited. She helped Regina to her feet and they began to walk.

“So… what do we do now?” Emma asked.

“You met my mother in the Enchanted Forest, did you not?”

Emma nodded, “Real piece of work. She tried to take my heart, but she couldn’t do it.” Regina’s eyes widened at this information. Snow hadn’t mentioned _that_.

“She _what?”_

“She was going after Snow’s and I got in the way, but then she couldn’t pull it out of my chest. I don’t know why not. But what does she want with you now?”

“Revenge,” Regina muttered. “She wants to destroy my happiness and kill me, and then reign over everyone else. That’s why we put the curse over the well in the first place – I knew that if she came through, we would all be in danger.”

“If she’s here, why hasn’t she appeared yet?” Emma wondered. “She could have taken us unaware and without a fight.”

“It seems she wants to torture and break me first by destroying my reputation. She knows about Henry, and I’m sure she’s realized that losing him will hurt far worse than anything she could ever do to me herself.”

Emma’s heart clenched in her chest at the misery in Regina’s tone and the sheen of tears in her expressive eyes.

“You won’t lose him,” Emma interjected firmly, grasping Regina’s upper arm. “Despite everything that happened, you gave him a far better life than I ever could have. You’re a _good mom_ , Regina. I believe in you, and I’ll make sure you spend more time with him. I take back what I said at the diner the other night; the best thing for Henry right now is to be with you. Cora will target him to get to you, and you’re probably the only one strong enough to protect him.”

“I can’t do it alone,” Regina admitted reluctantly, trying to remain unaffected by Emma’s passionate words. “Her power… last time it was all I could do to banish her to another realm. With magic acting different here, I don’t think I could stop her by myself. I can’t imagine how much stronger and angrier she is now.”

“What do we do, then?” Emma asked.

“I’ll need your help,” Regina began quietly, “and not just to convince Henry to stay with me and let me use magic again. If your magic was strong enough to translate the thoughts of a dog into human speech without the use of a verbal spell, it will go far towards protecting our son.”

“Our son,” Emma repeated with a grin, and Regina couldn’t help but roll her eyes. In the interest of continuing a civil conversation, however, she managed to hold back a sarcastic comment.

“Yes, well. Let’s go get him from school. He’s not safe there and we clearly have a lot to discuss with him.”

“Way ahead of you. I asked Dav- my parents to pick him up as soon as I realized someone was after you. Let’s go make sure your house is safe and I’ll ask them to drop him off.”

 

* * *

 

“So how do we know if she’s here or not?” Emma asked as they walked up Regina’s front steps.

“You’ve been in contact with her magic before, and you just felt it again through that spell.” Regina reminded her. “Think about how it felt to be around it, and if you sense the slightest hint of it before I do, _get out of there._ ”

“I won’t leave you to deal with her on your own!” Emma exclaimed, her concern for Regina surprising the older woman.

_Since when does she care about what happens to me?_

“You don’t have the slightest idea how to protect either of us from her,” Regina replied nonetheless, shaking her head grimly. “This isn’t a problem that you can fix by flashing your badge and waving a gun, Miss Swan. She can and _will_ kill you.”

“Just as she’ll do to you,” Emma insisted. “So if she’s here, fine. I’ll run. But I’m taking you with me when I do.”

Regina saw the conviction in Emma’s eyes and with a frustrated and somewhat perplexed sigh, relented and opened the door. They stayed within an arm’s reach of each other as they went through the house, their footsteps careful and quiet. Both listening for any sound of an intruder and their senses heightened for a trace of Cora’s magic. Soon they had paced through the entirety of Regina’s home without encountering Cora and they both relaxed.

“I think we’re safe,” Regina said, the normal strength of her tone replacing the tremulous nature it had held before.

“I’ll call David and ask him to bring Henry over,” Emma said and pulled out her phone.

“Ask him to bring his sword,” Regina requested. “Should we encounter my mother, you will need it.”

“I suppose it can’t hurt. Bullets don’t seem to work so well on you people,” Emma grumbled as the phone began to ring.

 

* * *

 

Emma quickly decided that it had been a good call to avoid revealing over the phone exactly _why_ she wanted David’s sword and Henry to be brought to Regina’s house immediately.

“She was after _my_ heart!” Snow shouted at Regina from the walkway. “She wanted to get it for _you!”_

“As a bargaining piece, probably,” Regina surmised, her desire to look calm in front of her old adversary outweighing her discomfort at the discussion at hand. “By now she knows that revenge against you is no longer the most precious thing to me,” she said, looking back toward her house where Emma had sent Henry as soon as they arrived.

“Then why do I feel like we’re sending the boy into the most dangerous situation possible?” David asked, only relinquishing the sword when Emma forcefully pulled it out of his hands with an insistent glare.

“With Cora in Storybrooke,” Emma said, “the safest place for him is with Regina, who is much better equipped to protect him than any of us.” She dropped her voice lower. “He is literally the only good thing in her life. She would do _anything_ to keep him safe, David.”

“But you have magic too, Emma!” Snow insisted. “You could protect him.”

“I have no idea how to use it,” she replied. “Everything I’ve done with it has been sheer dumb luck or under Regina’s guidance. Even if I knew how to do magic, it’s going to take both of us to stop Cora. Remember how the hat worked? I think… I think we’re stronger together,” she said, glancing up at Regina who met her eyes with no small measure of surprise.

“We’ll go to the fairies, then,” David said, guiding Snow back to their vehicle. “We’ll warn everyone and ready a defense should she come after anyone else.”

“Please be careful, Emma,” Snow begged, tearing up a little as she parted from her daughter. As they drove away, Emma turned back to Regina who still stood in the doorway.

“Henry?” she asked, and Regina nodded.

“Henry.”

 

* * *

 

Their son was already in a mood when both women arrived in the living room. David and Snow had already told him that Archie had been attacked by an unknown assailant, and he was understandably upset.

“Why am I here, Ma?” he asked Emma. He didn’t even spare a glance at Regina.

“Kid, remember when Snow was telling everybody about Cora? How she killed all those people while we were in the Enchanted Forest and tried to kill us, too? She’s here in Storybrooke now. We don’t know how she got here, but she’s after Regina and we’re afraid she will try to hurt you too.”

“Then we should just go home! I’m safe wherever you are,” he said, and the trust in his eyes both floored Emma and exasperated her.

“No, Henry. Not this time. She’s a hundred times worse than Regina _ever_ was. You’re safer here where both of us can protect you. There’s gotta be some kind of protection spell you can put over the house, right?” she asked, turning to Regina.

“There is a ward I can make, but it will only protect us while we’re inside. Henry, do you think you could stay here for a while, with both of us?” Regina asked him kindly, but he scowled and avoided her gaze.

“Fine. I’ll stay here, but you can’t use magic! You’ll… you’ll turn into the Evil Queen again!” Regina flinched at the mention of her old moniker and the venom in his voice, but Emma knelt down beside Henry to look him in the eye.

“Now listen here,” she began firmly. “The only evil queen we have to worry about right now is Cora. She will not hesitate to kill any one of us if she gets the chance. I know you’re worried about your mom’s magic, but kid, I have magic too. I used it today to figure out that it was Cora who attacked Archie.”

“That’s different,” he argued. “You’re the savior so you have _good_ magic!” Emma rolled her eyes a little and grit her teeth.

“Magic is just magic, kid. It’s a tool, like a knife. You can use it for all kinds of things, good and bad. I’m sure I could do horrible things with my magic too, if I wanted to. But I don’t, and neither does Regina – not anymore. Cora wants to hurt you, so you have to stay here. Regina’s going to put a protection spell over this house to keep you safe.” Her tone left no room for negotiation, but Henry lifted his chin defiantly at Emma.

“Do it with _your_ magic instead. I don’t trust her.”

Regina turned away so neither of her companions could see the devastation on her face.

“Henry, you know I don’t know how to do that,” she said, glancing worriedly at Regina’s back. “And besides, if Cora attacks us Regina’s gonna have to use magic to protect herself. You don’t want her to get hurt, do you?” His subsequent silence broke Regina’s heart further and she quickly fled from the room.

“I don’t want her to get hurt,” Henry admitted after a few moments. “I’m just mad at her for all the lies and the bad stuff she did.”

“She _is_ changing,” Emma insisted. “She’s trying really hard, and I believe in her. Why don’t you?” Henry didn’t respond.

“Kid,” Emma groaned, running her fingers through her hair in frustration, “you’re really hurting her by acting like this. I get why you’re mad at her, I really do. But right now she’s trying to keep us safe and she doesn’t deserve you treating her like that. I’m going to tell her that she’s allowed to use magic in self-defense because I don’t want her to get hurt either. If possible, I’ll get her to teach me how to protect the house so you’ll be safe. If I can’t do it, then she will. And you’ll just have to be okay with that. Now go to your room.” Henry turned and stomped up the stairs. Emma sighed and entered the kitchen to find Regina hunched over the sink, wiping tears from her eyes.

“I’m sorry,” Emma began, but Regina just held up a hand. Emma frowned, but didn’t say anything more. She simply put a comforting hand on the back of Regina’s shoulder and waited for the older woman to compose herself.

“I suppose I owe you a lesson in warding magic,” Regina muttered finally, though her voice was still rough from her tears and tinged with anger.

“If I can’t get it to work, it’s okay for you to do it,” Emma said.

“Did Henry say that?” Regina asked in surprise.

“No, I did,” Emma replied, and Regina frowned even more. “He’s confused and angry right now, but he’ll just have to get over it. You can and _should_ use magic to protect yourself. He needs you, even if he doesn’t want to admit it right now.” Regina was quiet for a moment, but eventually she nodded.

Regina took a flat stone from her kitchen windowsill and wordlessly led Emma to the entryway. Regina scratched a rune on the stone and placed it in an alcove over her front door. She gestured to Emma, who stepped forward to put her hand on it and looked expectantly at Regina.

“Focus really hard on the markings. Imagine them lighting up with your magic, and let it fill them until they’re glowing,” Regina said, reaching up on her tiptoes to readjust Emma’s grip.

“The light will spread from one side of the stone across the wall and over the whole house. When it comes around to the other side, the spell will be complete and you can stop.” Regina moved back to stand behind Emma.

“While you do this, think only of yourself, Henry, and me. That will ensure that we are the only ones allowed within the perimeter.”

Emma nodded and closed her eyes to concentrate. She could see the light in her hand through her eyelids and opened her eyes to see the shimmering wave spilling across the wall. She was sweating by the time it encircled the house and as soon as the protective barrier was complete she dropped her arm and staggered away from the door. A solid warmth pressed against her back and supportive hands found her elbows as she shook the dizziness away.

“Good job, Miss Swan,” Regina said as she steadied her.

“Thanks,” Emma replied, regaining her balance.

The two women sat down next to each other at Regina’s kitchen counter and were silent for a while. Regina could feel Emma’s magic humming through the fabric of her home. There was a shine to the glass of the windows that hadn’t been there before.

“What are we going to do about Cora? Hide in here until she gives up and goes away?” Emma asked rhetorically. Regina gave a harsh laugh.

“No, she will eventually find a way past the ward. It’s not completely foolproof and it will need to be charged again eventually. Once she figures out that we know she’s here, she’ll probably try to involve Rumpel. No doubt he’ll make some sort of deal with her. I know for sure that we cannot best the two of them together.”

“Why don’t we get him to work with us instead?”

“I don’t trust him,” Regina said. “They have some sort of history together that I’ve never completely understood, and he might turn on us at the worst possible time.”

“So we have to confront her before they team up,” Emma surmised. “We need a plan.”

“That we do. Part of it is already here,” she said, gesturing to David’s sword. “As for your magic, you don’t have the knowledge necessary to wield it as a weapon or as a shield, and it would take far too long to teach you at this point.” Emma frowned, looking a bit offended.

“That’s not a slight against you, Miss Swan. I trained for two decades to master my abilities. There is not much we could accomplish within two hours, though I would certainly be willing to teach you some things should we survive beyond today.”

“Don’t say that,” Emma rebuked gently. “We’re gonna be okay. I believe in us.”

“Misplaced beliefs do tend to run in your family, dear,” Regina responded with a little smile **,** though her eyes were still stormy with worry. “Nonetheless, I hope you’re right. We cannot afford to fail.” She looked toward the stairs sadly.

“Maybe this is that familial optimism too, but I think he’ll come around eventually,” Emma reassured her companion. “After our talk, he’s probably not the biggest fan of me right now either.”

 _That would have made me happy at one point_ , Regina thought dourly.

“Well, let’s ensure that we remain alive for him to come around to.” Regina handed the sword to Emma. “I don’t suppose you are especially well-versed in swordplay, given your experiences in this world. The chances of you getting close enough to Cora to use it against her are minimal, but this blade has been enchanted to repel magic. It will serve as a shield for you. I would recommend against throwing it at Cora unless we are left with literally no other option.” Regina smirked at her, having heard of her encounter with the dragon. Emma just grinned.

“ _Not_ a large throwing knife. Got it. So how do we draw her out from wherever she’s hiding?”

“We both have a good sense of her magic now. Without any leads, our best bet is to patrol Storybrooke until we encounter her and go from there.”

 _And I hate that_ , Regina added to herself.

“Go from there? That doesn’t sound like much of a plan,” Emma muttered, unknowingly echoing Regina’s internal thoughts.

“Do _you_ have a better one?” Regina snapped, her frustration reaching a head. “I have no idea what she will throw at us. Our chances are slim as it is, and the only reason we’re going after her at all is to prevent things from being truly impossible should she form an alliance with Rumpel.”

“All right, calm down,” Emma placated, understanding that it was fear prompting Regina’s harshness. “I’d just like some sort of a game plan is all. What exactly am I supposed to do with this thing? Just blocking spells doesn’t seem like it will be of much help.”

“If you’re standing in front of me, it will. The more I have to block, the less I will be able to attack. That, and I doubt she will be expecting you to be taking a role in this confrontation. Even if she has seen our recent interactions, she probably won’t think you’ll be of use in a magic fight. Your presence will distract her.”

“A distraction,” Emma deadpanned. “Well, at least I’m not bait.”

“No, you’re not,” Regina replied. “I am.” Emma saw the unease creeping into her eyes at the thought and she put a hand on Regina’s shoulder.

“Hey, don’t worry. I’ll protect you like I protected you from the mob and the wraith. The situation will be different, but my attitude won’t be.”

“And what attitude might that be, Miss Swan?” Regina asked.

“That I’ll do everything I possibly can to protect the mother of my son and the woman who might be becoming my friend.” There was a fondness in her tone that caught Regina a little bit off guard and she was silent for a moment.

“I suppose we _have_ been getting along better,” Regina finally conceded. “It would be good for Henry if we weren’t always at odds.”

“I agree. So, friends?” Emma asked, sticking out her hand. Regina rolled her eyes but took it nonetheless.

“Very well, Miss Swan. Friends.”

“You’re gonna have to cut it out with the ‘Miss Swan’ thing, Regina,” Emma said as they left the house, both feeling the pull of Emma’s magic as they stepped through the barrier. “Friends don’t call each other ‘Miss’ anything.”

“I’ll call you whatever I wish, _Miss Swan_ ,” Regina said, but there was a slightly playful edge to her words.

“Whatever,” Emma huffed, smiling. “Just don’t expect me to call you _Madame Mayor_ unless the situation desperately calls for it.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first image correlates to this chapter: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15805998

“Madame Mayor, I believe we’ve found what we were looking for,” Emma said gravely, staring at the whirl of blue and purple magic swirling around Town Hall. Regina mutely nodded her agreement.

“I guess I know where you get your flair for the dramatic,” Emma quipped, glancing over at her friend. Regina rolled her eyes despite her mounting trepidation.

 _Trust Emma Swan to make light of any situation._ To be fair, Emma’s humor was helping settle Regina’s nerves. Even just the solid presence of the blonde at her side helped ground her and made her feel less alone. _I can’t imagine facing mother by myself now._

At that moment, Cora appeared before them in a plume of smoke and a teleportation barrier crashed around them like a dome. Emma immediately readied the sword and stood protectively in front of Regina, whose heart leapt into her throat both in fear at the sight of her mother and because for the first time in her life someone was _defending_ her from Cora.

“Ah, so it seems my daughter has a new pet,” Cora began, her voice sending ice down Regina’s spine. “Just as well,” she smiled cruelly at Emma. “I had hoped that you and I could finish our conversation from the other land.”

“Any conversation that involves your hand in my chest is not one I intend to continue,” Emma growled, tilting the sword menacingly. “Besides, Regina doesn’t want _my_ heart.”

“I believe that is not entirely true,” Cora said, and as soon as confusion made Emma lower the tip of her sword a fraction a spell was rocketing toward the two of them. Emma shouted and brought the weapon up just in time to deflect the magic into a nearby car, which promptly exploded. The force of the blast knocked all three women to the ground.

“Are you okay?” Emma asked, kneeling protectively over Regina with the sword raised.

“I’m fine,” she replied with a wince, letting Emma help her to her feet. “Now crouch down a little so I don’t singe your hair,” she ordered grimly as she readied magic between her hands and turned to face their adversary once more.

 

* * *

 

It felt like the fight had lasted for hours. Every time Regina and Emma seemed to gain the upper hand, Cora would pull out a new trick to set them back on their heels. Between Cora’s spells getting deflected by the sword and Regina’s offensive magic flying around, property damage around Town Hall was approaching catastrophic.

Emma rarely moved from her position in front of Regina. Spells glanced off of her sword left and right, showering the two of them in a haze of sparks. The unpredictable ricocheting was enough of a distraction for Regina to either dodge any unblocked attacks or counter with enough force to keep Cora from killing either of them outright. However, they had both been struck by flying debris and thrown to the ground a few times and their bodies ached from the abuse.

“Enough!” Cora shouted, finally. She sent out a wall of magic that disarmed Emma and left her sprawled on her back some distance away from Regina, who fell to her knees from the strain of resisting the pulse. When Cora turned to her daughter, there was no longer a hint of mercy or humanity in her eyes.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl as Regina watched her mother cast the spell. Horror and disbelief flooded her mind as soon as she identified the green curse heading her way. _The curse of magic rending,_ she thought numbly. Her mother meant to tear out her magic and leave her as an empty unconscious shell.

Then there was a streak of red blasting magic chasing fast behind it and Regina knew she would certainly not survive the double hit. Too magically depleted to mount a quick defense and too physically exhausted to move, she simply closed her eyes in resignation and prayed that Emma would somehow escape for Henry’s sake.

“NO!” the shout made her eyes fly open and she watched in horror as Emma Swan lunged in front of her, weaponless, right into the path of the magic. Everything thereafter happened in a blur. Regina heard the magic sink into Emma’s body, but then there was a resounding boom and a blinding flash of light rocketed straight back at Cora. The red then struck Emma and sent her slamming to the ground right in front of Regina.

“Emma!” she shouted. The woman was lying frighteningly still. Her eyes were closed and blood was pouring from a slash on the side of her face and leaking from between her lips. Regina chanced a glance upwards and didn’t see Cora, but that didn’t make her feel any safer. With her dwindling magic, she sensed that Cora’s teleportation barrier had fallen and she bent down and wrapped her arms around Emma.

 _Home,_ Regina thought, clutching the broken, bleeding body close to her chest. She urged her mostly-depleted magic to surround them and shut her eyes tight. _Take us home._ To her great relief, she felt the form in her arms remain through the brief weightlessness before her foyer materialized around them, bathing them briefly in Emma’s magic as they were accepted by the ward.

_Please, PLEASE be alive…_

She carefully gathered Emma’s torso into her lap and laid a shaking hand on her blood-stained neck. A whimper of relief left her throat upon finding a weak, fast pulse.

_But did Cora destroy her magic?_

Fear consumed her for a moment, knowing that if Emma’s magic were completely gone Emma would never wake up again. Regina’s magic spread from her hand and quickly sensed the latent, largely unused power within the woman she was holding. It was still present, though it felt as unstable as the thready pulse underneath her fingertips.

She gasped when she felt Emma’s poorly-contained magic flow into her, saw the lights flicker above and white tendrils curl and wind unimpeded around her wrist and up her arm before her eyes fell shut. She could feel the ache of the bruises and burns on her body fade away in the background, but it was superseded by the wave of peace that washed over her soul. She felt so warm and safe and whole, she could have gone straight to sleep.

But she blinked her eyes open and froze in horror at the sight of Emma’s magic leaving the woman’s traumatized body under her home’s flickering lights.

“No! Stop!” Regina cried out hoarsely, ripping her hand and her magic away from the unconscious woman.

 _She has a tear in her magic from that spell – it’s leaking out without her conscious control. That or she’s using it subconsciously._ She huffed in frustration and glared mildly at Emma.

 _Half dead and you’re still trying to help me. Your magic has a mind of its own, but the fact that you have it at all might be the only thing keeping you alive right now, Miss Swan_ , she thought tersely. _So keep it to yourself._

Feeling infinitely better herself, but still immensely worried for the helpless person in her arms, Regina pulled Emma closer, careful to keep her magic from interacting with Emma’s again. Waves of blood-soaked hair cascaded over her forearm as she cradled Emma’s head in the crook of her elbow. The hand that had been at the savior’s pulse point was now covered in blood and Regina stared at it in dismay. The shallow breaths moving the chest under her arm were growing weaker and more sporadic, and Regina’s heart clenched when she noticed. _Don’t leave, please. Don’t leave me_ , she begged silently.

It wasn’t until she heard footsteps running down the stairs that she realized that she was crying. Tears were dripping from her chin and onto Emma’s still face, but she didn’t have the energy to wipe them away.

“Mom? I felt something weird – like magic in the house. And the lights were blinking. What’s going-” Regina could tell without looking the moment her son laid eyes on the two of them. She could hear his breath catch the same way her sobs were currently hitching in her own throat.

“EMMA!” His terrified scream finally broke her out of her shock and she looked up just as Henry slid to his knees before her. The panic in his eyes finally shook the numbness out of her and she managed to control her breathing enough to speak.

“Henry…” she gasped.

“Mom! What happened? What-” he couldn’t tear his horrified gaze away from Emma, and tears were already beginning to stream down his face.

“Cora,” she ground out brokenly. “Attacked us. Emma...” _she saved me._

“What did she do to her? Is she going to be okay?”

“I… I don’t…” Regina couldn’t force the words out this time, unable to even voice the thought. Henry looked up and she finally met his tear-filled gaze with her own.

“Mom, you can use magic. Please, _please_ use magic to help her! You can heal her, can’t you?” The irony of Henry’s request was lost amidst the fear gripping Regina’s heart. She placed her hand on Emma’s chest and tried even the simplest life-sustaining spell she knew, but her magic fizzled out and her head spun every time she initiated it.

“My magic is too weak from the fight to heal her,” she explained almost bitterly, shaking her head. “We’ll have to… have to help her without magic for now.”

She tried desperately to pull herself together, shoving aside the memories of Emma’s foolish, _foolish_ heroics for the moment. She sent Henry running for a bowl of water, bandages, scissors, and some towels. Though she could have conjured them in an instant, she knew he needed to feel helpful or he would lose his mind with worry. Besides, the more magic she conserved the sooner she would be able to heal Emma more substantially.

_All I can do for now is to stop the bleeding and hope..._

She reluctantly shifted Emma from her lap onto the floor again and knelt at her side. The stream of blood running from between her lips had stopped, though the slash across her jawline continued to bleed. Regina carefully pillowed Emma’s head on a towel, and with shaking hands did her best to clean the wound and bandage it.

The dark stain left on the towel betrayed a deep gash on Emma’s scalp as Regina shifted the unconscious woman. Her hair was matted in sticky red all around the wound and over the rapidly-swelling knot on the back of her head from where she had struck the ground after her _utterly stupid, idiotic move to save me_ , Regina thought to herself, guilt fiercely welling up in her stomach as she did her best to clean and cover all the damage that had been done.

“H-Henry, will you make an ice pack?” she asked, surprised to find that she had still not stopped crying. The boy took off again without a word and Regina returned her attention to Emma.

Glancing quickly down her body Regina called out again, “Two of them, please?” Emma appeared to have landed mainly on her left side and, besides the bleeding lacerations across her hand and forearm, her wrist was also swelling up quickly. Regina cleaned and wrapped the injured limb, wincing at the sight of red leaking through the bandage in places.

Henry returned with the first ice pack – a plastic sandwich bag full of ice cubes – and Regina gently lifted Emma’s head to slide it underneath the bandaged, swollen wound. When Henry left to make another, Regina took the opportunity to pull up the hem of Emma’s tank top. The thin material had protected her from light scrapes well enough, but Regina was certain Emma would have a few broken ribs from the blasting spell alone, if not from the rest of the fight. She knew she’d had some herself before Emma had inadvertently healed her.

 _Why is your stupid light magic too noble to automatically heal yourself?_ she groused internally. Regina carefully tugged the fabric back over Emma’s lean, bruised abdomen and turned her attention to the woman’s legs.

The side of her left knee was a complete disaster. The denim had been ripped away almost as a solid piece, leaving a bloody mess in its wake. Regina had failed to notice that it was still bleeding steadily and it had formed a pool of blood on the hardwood floor underneath. With scissors and shaking hands she cut Emma’s jeans above the knee to better access the injury.

The bowl of water was quickly becoming tinged red as Regina carefully rinsed the wound. She had to hold pressure on it for a few minutes before the bleeding would slow. In that time, Henry had returned with another ice pack, and he watched worriedly as Regina settled it over Emma’s bandaged wrist.

Somewhere along the way Regina’s tears had stopped. Her hands still trembled, but she was able to attend to Emma’s injuries well enough. She double checked Emma’s bandages to make sure the bleeding had stopped and finally looked up at Henry’s worried face.

Her brow softened at the sight of the tears streaming down his cheeks and she leaned forward to embrace him. There wasn’t even a moment’s hesitation before he fell into her arms and sobbed. Regina couldn’t stop a few of her own tears from coming down as well.

“We’ll take care of her,” she said as reassuring as she could. “She’s safe here with the ward up. I won’t let anyone hurt her, I promise,” she said into her son’s hair, though it was a promise to herself as well. Eventually he nodded and leaned back. She cradled his cheek with one hand, but dropped it upon noticing that her fingers were still smeared with blood.

She rinsed her hands as best as she could in the bowl of water, unwilling to leave Emma’s side even to go to the sink. She was still breathing those same shallow breaths, but they seemed marginally more regular than before.

“Come along, then,” she said finally, getting to her feet. “It’s late, and there’s nothing more we can do for now. We’ll all three sleep in my bed tonight if you’d like.” Henry was too tired to even comment on the fact that he hadn’t done that since he was five. He also didn’t care and was secretly glad that he wouldn’t have to leave Emma or try to sleep alone.

Regina briefly considered simply levitating Emma along with them, but she didn’t quite trust her weakened magic to hold her. She told herself that it had absolutely nothing to do with the fear-driven need to maintain physical contact with Emma for her own security and peace of mind.

Regina instead used her feeble powers to lend strength to her limbs, and she bent down to lift Emma into her arms. She rested the bandaged head carefully against her shoulder and followed Henry up the stairs. Henry pulled back the covers for them and settled in on the far side of the bed. Regina gently deposited Emma in the middle, not caring about the streaks of blood her limp form left on the sheets, and replaced the ice packs.

“Careful with her ribs, Henry,” Regina warned softly, watching him attempt to snuggle closer to Emma’s side. “I couldn’t tell if they’re broken or not, but as hard as she was hit they probably are.” He frowned. Worry lines marred his forehead and, not for the first time, Regina wished he could have been spared things such as this.

“Maybe I should put a pillow between us? So I don’t accidently bump her in my sleep?”

“That’s a good idea.” She moved to retrieve one from the closet. “Turn around so I can change, dear.”

Regina quickly discarded her bloodied, roughed up clothes in favor of some soft pajamas. When the bed dipped under her weight, Henry turned around again.

“She’s not going to be very comfortable in jeans, Mom,” he commented. “Can’t you get her some pajamas too?”

“I’m afraid I’d hurt her worse if I tried to change her clothes while she’s like this,” Regina said regretfully. There was a brief silence as she slid underneath the covers, watching her son across Emma’s body. His eyes were downcast and his brow furrowed in thought.

“Can… can you use magic to do it?” he asked timidly, looking up finally. “I know I told you not to use it anymore, but… but if you hadn’t, you couldn’t have brought her here. Or protected us. Or taken care of her.” He sighed deeply. “Will you please?”

Regina had tears in her eyes, but without a word she lifted her hand and released a swirl of purple. Emma’s tattered, blood-stained jeans disappeared to leave her clad in a pair of soft sleep shorts.

Henry carefully placed the pillow against Emma’s side and settled down. He buried his head in her shoulder, but kept his eyes open. Regina sighed, knowing that it would be hard for him to fall asleep after what he’d seen. She doubted she would get any sleep either. Not until she knew Emma would be okay.

Regina turned the lamp off, throwing the room into darkness, but in the moonlight she could still see the glint of tears on her son’s face. She reached over Emma’s still form to run her fingers through his hair, and this seemed to soothe him.

Eventually he dropped off to sleep and Regina relaxed slightly. Her hand moved the short distance from Henry’s head to Emma’s bare shoulder. Her skin was cold to the touch, and Regina worriedly pulled the blanket farther up.

_She’ll feel cold with her magic torn like this._

She shuddered to think of the times in her training that Rumpel had purposefully damaged her magic. She remembered the chilly ache all too well.

Regina cautiously shifted closer to Emma. _For Emma’s comfort,_ she rationalized to herself. Though deep down she needed reassurance, too. It was embarrassing, but there was nobody awake to witness her vulnerability so Regina let her tears fall once more.

She looked over the still face of the woman who saved her life and couldn’t help but raise a shaking hand to stroke her bruised cheek. Her fingers came to rest against Emma’s pulse point and the slightly stronger beat comforted her.

“You idiot,” she whispered, barely making any sound for fear of waking Henry. “You brave, selfless idiot…” her breath caught in a sob and she mirrored Henry by resting her face against Emma’s toned shoulder. Her arm remained flung across Emma’s body, and the steady rise and fall of her chest comforted Regina.

“Why?” she whimpered against Emma’s skin. “Why did you save me? Why did you save _me?”_ There was no response. Regina realized that had she been struck with those curses, she would have perished. She still wasn’t entirely sure how Emma had survived in the first place. Or if she would pull through even now.

_What if she never wakes up?_

Her arm tightened subconsciously around Emma’s waist and she clenched her eyes shut.

“You have to,” she whispered shakily. “Henry needs you.”

_I need you._

Emma remained still and unresponsive, but Regina didn’t dare go to sleep. Terrified that Emma would stop breathing during the night, Regina kept a silent, anxious vigil.

 

* * *

 

Not long after dawn sent enough light to illuminate the room, Henry stirred. He was confused at first, but the sight of Emma lying bandaged beside him soon jogged his memory. He looked up from her to see Regina still lying down but with her eyes open. She leaned up on one elbow when she noticed her son awake.

“Mom?” he asked uncertainly, his eyes flicking between his two mothers.

“Nothing has changed, Henry. She’s still asleep, but alive.” Regina’s low voice reassured Henry and he sat up and stared down at the still figure resting between them. He looked up at Regina as a thought occurred to him.

“Did you keep watch over her all night?” he asked, somewhat surprised when she nodded.

“I promised you I’d take care of her,” she reminded him quietly. “She hasn’t woken at all, but I think that might be a good thing.” His brow wrinkled in confusion before she clarified, “It means she’s healing.”

“Oh,” he said simply. He carefully reached out to touch Emma’s shoulder and grimaced at the sight of dark bruises on most of her visible skin. Regina followed his gaze and carefully tugged the blanket up to Emma’s neck both to keep her warm and to hide her alarming injuries from their son.

“Go on and eat some breakfast, dear,” she said. “I’ll keep an eye on her until you’re done.” Henry nodded, trusting her around Emma after all that had happened. He slipped out of the room and left Regina in silence again.

Regina pulled the blankets back down briefly to examine Emma’s injuries. She was relieved to find that none of them had bled through the bandages. Regina searched inside herself to evaluate her own magic and found it still lacking.

 _I need to sleep if I’m going to recover enough strength to help her,_ she realized. Henry soon returned with his cereal and Regina allowed him to eat it on the nightstand. She swept her hand over her face wearily and caught Henry’s gaze.

“I need to rest to be strong enough to heal her,” she said. “Will you watch over her while I sleep and wake me if anything happens?” He nodded eagerly and ran to his room to retrieve some comic books.

Once he had closed the curtains for her and was situated on the other side of the bed reading, Regina finally let herself relax. She shuffled down under the covers at Emma’s side, not quite pressed up against the other woman but definitely closer than she necessarily had to be.

Unbeknownst to Henry and without even really knowing why herself, Regina took Emma’s limp hand into her own under the sheets before she finally surrendered to sleep.

 

* * *

 

Regina slept deeply for the rest of the morning. She woke slowly, gradually regaining consciousness to the sound of a quiet young voice.

“… said you’d be safe here, and I know you will. I really wish you’d wake up, though. I’m scared.” A sniffle. “I still don’t understand how you have magic, too. It’s gotta be like you told me – that magic is just a tool. Not good or evil on its own.”

Shuffling, and then even quieter, “Mom’s not evil either – I get it now. She’s taking care of you. Of us. She stayed up _all night_ to make sure you were okay. Mom’s going to heal you – you’re gonna get better.”

He sounded like he was trying to reassure Emma and Regina briefly wondered if Emma was conscious after all, but then he continued.

“If you’re asleep it means you’re healing, so it’s okay if you can’t wake up just yet. Please get better, Ma.” Regina heard the tears choke her son’s voice and she could no longer feign sleep. She lifted an arm out from under the blankets and gently touched Henry’s back.

“Oh honey…”

“Mom! I didn’t wake you up, did I?”

“It’s okay dear. What time is it?” she asked, groggily rubbing her eyes before looking to her clock. It was nearing noon, and she decided that lunch was in order. After checking on Emma and finding her condition unchanged, she left the room to make sandwiches. She and Henry sat on the edge of the bed together to eat.

“She looks a bit better now, doesn’t she?” Henry asked, glancing over at his other mother. It was true – some color had returned to Emma’s pale face and despite the bandages encasing half of her head she looked marginally more alive than before.

“She does,” Regina agreed. She set her plate aside and moved to kneel next to the unconscious woman. “Stand back, Henry. I’m going to check on her with my magic, but hers is not under control right now and it might spark.”

When she was satisfied with Henry’s distance, Regina placed her hand on Emma’s chest and readied her magic. The morning’s rest had helped her significantly, but she wanted to make sure Emma’s magic wouldn’t overcome her again. Emma’s condition had deteriorated when her magic was let loose and Regina didn’t want a repeat performance. She mustered her powers into her hand, but only let the tiniest filament leave. The bulk of it was to keep Emma’s magic at bay.

Regina closed her eyes, and through the thread she sensed the tear in Emma’s magic. It centered at the other woman’s chest, where the spell had struck her. She could feel the rift and the magic leaking from it that was crashing against her barrier. That would have to be mended before she could heal any of Emma’s physical injuries.

She pulled her hand away almost roughly, severing the magical tie abruptly before any of Emma’s magic could escape. The lights in the room flickered just once, but then everything was as before. When she opened her eyes again, Henry was looking at her inquisitively from the other side of the room.

“Is she okay? Are _you_ okay?” he asked, worry filling his features.

“I’m fine, dear,” she replied, touched by his concern. “Her magic is still very unstable. I’ll need to fix it before I can heal her. Any healing magic I try on her wounds will just get pulled in to repair her magic instead.” He nodded in understanding.

“Can you do it?” he asked hopefully. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“It will be a long process,” she explained. “I only have so much energy, even after I slept all morning. I will rest some more, and mend as much as I can tonight. It may not be until tomorrow or the next day that I can start to heal her body. I need you to keep an eye on the house – don’t answer the door, and don’t go outside. Stay away from the windows just in case. Since you won’t be going to school until it’s safe again, you need to do your schoolwork here. Besides that, you may watch TV and play inside. You don’t have to stay in this room – I think she is out of danger now.”

“Will you stay with her, though?” he asked, clearly still worried about Emma. Regina smiled softly.

“Of course I will,” she replied. “Let me know if you need anything, and come get me when you’re hungry for dinner and I’ll make something for us.”

 

* * *

 

Once Henry had left the room to go about his day, Regina turned back to the still figure in her bed. She uncovered the unconscious woman and tugged down the collar of her tank top, curious about the magical injury. She gasped at what she found. In the center of Emma’s chest, disappearing beneath her sports bra, a thick, jagged red scar marred her light skin.

Regina stared in astonishment for a moment before reaching out to trace the edge of the injury with a finger. Magic sparked up at her unexpectedly at the skin-to-skin contact, and with an effort she tamped it back down. Fortunately, Emma seemed unaffected.

_Was that even her magic?_

Regina cautiously tried again and before it even sparked she could feel the foreign nature of the magic in the mark.

_It didn’t come from her._

Regina put a simple containment spell over it to prevent the magic within from attacking Emma or herself.

Worry tugged at Regina’s heart. Despite her positive words to Henry, she still feared for Emma’s life. She desperately wished Emma would wake up or respond in some way for Regina to know that she would be okay. “You may be the savior, Miss Swan, but I’ll not have you die to protect me.” She laid down next to Emma again and propped herself up on an elbow. “Whatever you sought to accomplish by saving me, you would have certainly been better-served to protect yourself."

Tears were brimming in her eyes and she couldn’t hold up the façade anymore. “You could have _died_ , Emma. I still don’t understand how you survived. Don’t you know what it would have done to Henry had you died? What it would have done to _me_?” She bent down to rest her forehead against Emma’s shoulder and clenched her eyes shut. “You should have let it hit me instead,” she whispered guiltily against Emma’s skin.

“No.” The weak, rough gasp startled Regina. Her head shot up and she clutched desperately at Emma’s shoulders.

“Emma?” Somehow her self-deprecation had woken the woman, and Regina was not about to question how or why. Tears of relief began to stream freely down her face.

“R-Reg-” Emma struggled hoarsely and winced, shivering, but Regina quickly put a soothing hand on her cheek.

“Shh, don’t try to talk. You’re hurt.” Emma, predictably, ignored Regina’s request.

“Y’kay?” she slurred, struggling to crack an eye open. A sliver of green glinted in the dim light for a moment before her heavy eyelid fell closed. Regina caressed Emma’s face and barely suppressed a sob.

“I’m fine, dear. We’re safe now. Please just rest.” Her voice was thick with emotion. Emma seemed too dazed and weak to do more, and quickly lapsed into silence. Her breathing evened out in sleep and Regina found that she still had her hand on Emma’s face.

After one last gentle stroke of her thumb, Regina resumed her position from the night before, with her head against Emma’s shoulder and her arm securely crossed over Emma’s waist. Being close enough to feel Emma breathing helped calm Regina and she let her exhausted body relax.

She could still smell the metallic scent of the blood caked in Emma’s hair, but after their brief conversation she was more assured that Emma would eventually be okay. The fact that she had woken up at all gave Regina enough peace to drift into a light sleep.

 

* * *

 

Regina did not sleep for long. A trembling sensation woke her only a few hours later. She opened her eyes in confusion at the unfamiliar warmth beside her, tucked against her body. A soft sound brought her to full alertness.

_Emma?_

The woman in question was still asleep but her brow was beginning to furrow in discomfort. She moaned quietly and her head lolled toward Regina. She was shaking.

“Emma…” Regina whispered helplessly. She sat up and cradled Emma’s tense jaw in her palm. A full grimace had stolen onto the blonde’s face as the pain filtered into her awareness and Regina hated that she couldn’t take it away.

_Why does healing require so much magic?_

Regina was no stranger to pain, nor to the sight of it afflicting other people. She had been the cause of many peoples’ suffering, but never before had she desired so much to ease someone else’s pain.

Every one of Emma’s gasping breaths made Regina’s heart clench in her chest and the unaccustomed helplessness in which Regina found herself did nothing to ease her inner turmoil. She felt tears starting in her eyes and shut them tightly, stifling a sad sound of her own.

Emma woke slowly to agony and whimpered pitifully at the strong stabbing sensation in her chest and the throbbing ache in her body and head. Her uncontrollable shivering wasn’t helping matters in the slightest.

Emma bit her lip hard to keep from crying out as tears streamed from the corners of her tightly-closed eyes, but a gentle warm hand stroking her face soon drew her attention away from the pain. Finally she became aware of a soft, teary voice whispering a few words over and over.

“I’m sorry, Emma. I’m so sorry.” She instantly knew it was Regina, but the tone sounded nothing like the woman she had come to know. This Regina sounded… broken.

 _Not to mention the completely out-of-character apologizing_ , she thought dazedly. _She’s not calling me Miss Swan or sheriff… and she’s touching me like… like she cares?_  

Now terribly worried for Regina, Emma did her best to ignore her pain and struggled to open her eyes. She succeeded, and she heard Regina gasp even before she got them to focus. Her heart dropped into her stomach the moment they did, for she didn’t think she had ever seen Regina look so distraught.

Too weak to move at all, Emma could only watch as a single tear slid down Regina’s face. She didn’t attempt to conceal it, and this worried Emma even more. Regina easily identified the confusion and concern in the pain-filled green eyes looking up at her and she gave a quiet, wet laugh.

“I’m okay. Please don’t look at me like that. I’m just so worried about you.” Emma couldn’t help the incredulity and surprise in her expression, which Regina expertly diagnosed as well. She almost released a scathing retort but after everything that had happened she couldn’t bring herself to berate Emma.

“You saved my life,” Regina explained. “And I thought... I’m still not sure how you survived. I don’t know what I would have done if-” she broke off to rub impending tears out of her eyes.

“Or what would have happened to our son! So you _will_ have a full recovery, am I understood?” Regina tried (and failed) to inject more familiar sternness into her voice. Emma just looked at her again and smiled a little.

“ _Our_ son,” she repeated Regina’s words weakly and grinned, though she winced as the movement pulled at the slash across her jaw. She shuddered in pain and discomfort, and the moment was lost.

With her eyes clenched shut, she missed the unfamiliar expression of sorrowful compassion that flooded Regina’s features.

 _Rest be damned. I have to do something for her right now_ , Regina decided _._

Lost briefly in her pain, Emma was surprised to feel a soothing warmth cover the right side of her body. She choked back a whimper and forced her eyes open again, only to find Regina mere inches away from her face. The older woman had pressed her body against Emma’s and already Emma could feel the pain diminishing somehow.

“Your injuries are not merely physical,” Regina informed her grimly, doing her level best to ignore the awkwardness and newness of their current proximity. “By all accounts, your magic should be gone – taken from you by that spell.”

Emma’s mind went back to the sensation when the green light first struck her. It had felt like all of her bones were being pulled out of her body. Sideways. Then something happened and they had all snapped back into place, which had been somehow even more painful. She shuddered at the memory, but Regina quickly pulled her back from it by smoothing a hand over Emma’s cheek.

“Stay with me, okay?” she requested seriously. “Don’t get lost in it.” She had seen the flash of green magic spark behind Emma’s eyes and knew the aftershocks would likely continue until she got rid of the curse. Regina shifted once more so that she was almost lying on top of Emma while being careful of her injuries. Emma was still trembling.

“I can’t physically heal you right now,” Regina admitted, “and I’m not yet strong enough to get rid of what’s left of the spell, but I can start to mend some of the injury to your magic so that you don’t feel so sick and cold.”

Emma silently noted that she already felt better with Regina this close to her, but the painfully hollow chill deep in her bones remained. That is, until Regina began to glow softly. She sank her head down over Emma’s shoulder, with her forehead barely grazing Emma’s bandaged jaw. Her hand moved to cradle the opposite side of Emma’s head and the injured woman let her eyes fall closed.

Warmth began to radiate from every point of contact between them and Emma let out a small whimper of relief as the magic seeped into her body. Even the agony in her chest diminished a bit, and Emma didn’t think she’d ever felt this safe before. With the last of her conscious strength, she turned her face to rest her nose in Regina’s hair. And then she was out.

Regina sagged wearily against Emma’s body as she let the glow fade away from them both. She could sense the repair in Emma’s magic already – it was no longer easily leaking out of her at the slightest prodding like it had earlier. It would take more treatments to completely resolve the damage, but she wouldn’t have the energy for that until later.

Regina smiled faintly at the sensation of warm breaths in her hair and couldn’t bring herself to move away even if she had had the strength to do so. She had felt how Emma’s tense body had relaxed against hers even before she released her magic, and she was deeply glad that she had brought some relief to the injured woman. Despite her own magical fatigue, she realized she had delivered some peace to herself as well. It had been a long time since she had been this close to another person and she was surprised by how nice it felt.

Even if it was Emma. Maybe _because_ it was Emma… though she didn’t dare admit that to herself. Out of everyone in post-curse Storybrooke, Emma was the only one who truly believed in her ability to change and in the sincerity of her attempts. Lie-detecting superpower aside, Emma believing in her, fighting for her, and calling her a friend meant the world to Regina. Even Cora had seen it, somehow.

And the thought that either one of them could have died before she’d had the chance to show it made her exhausted body shudder.

“I’ll do better,” Regina whispered, “I promise.” She tightened her hold on Emma protectively and let herself drift off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A scene in this chapter was the starting point of this whole story, inspired by a fanart that takes my breath away every time I see it. Please check it out: https://www.deviantart.com/thakan/art/When-you-lose-everything-431285014


	3. Chapter 3

Regina woke again some hours later to the sound of her bedroom door opening. She blinked her heavy eyes open to see the pale slope of Emma’s neck in the dim light. She heard shuffling footsteps behind her, _Henry_ , and with an effort she pulled herself off of Emma carefully to avoid waking her, tucking the blankets around her still form to keep her warm.

“Mom?” he asked uncertainly when she finally turned to face him. “Why were you all… on top of Emma like that?” She couldn’t read his expression well in the low light, but the confusion and potential wariness in his tone came through nonetheless.

“I healed her magic a little bit this afternoon,” she said, smiling when his face lit up and he looked at her like she was a hero.

“I still don’t have much, so I sent it through my hands, arms, legs, any part of me that was close enough for it to reach her. That way none of it is wasted and she’ll get better faster.” He nodded in understanding, and climbed onto the bed to look at Emma.

“She looks the same,” he said, turning to Regina in concern.

“Yes,” she replied. “Magic is invisible in a person who is not actively using it, and healing hers is the only thing I have been able to do for her so far. She is still hurt and very weak, though she woke up briefly several hours ago.”

“She was awake?!” Henry exclaimed, loudly enough for Regina to quickly shush him. “Could she talk? Is she okay? Why didn’t you tell me?” he continued much quieter.

“She was only awake for a few minutes, Henry, or I would have come to get you. She was in a lot of pain, so it’s probably best that she stays asleep until I can truly heal her.” He nodded gravely and gazed worriedly at his unconscious mother.

“But she woke up – that’s good right?”

“It is,” Regina replied with a smile. “She is getting better.” Her expression fell as she recalled the terrible scar on Emma’s chest.

“There is a problem, though,” she began regretfully. “When she was hit, some of the spell stuck to her. I’ve walled it off for now, but the protection won’t last. I will have to remove it tonight and it will probably be quite painful for her.”

“Is it hurting her now? Is that why the lights flickered when you checked on her this morning?” he asked, his eyes wide.

“She can’t feel anything while she’s sleeping,” she reassured him, “but perhaps the curse did affect the lights. We will see what happens tonight when I get rid of it. But first, dinner. Are you hungry?” He nodded.

Regina left Henry watching over Emma while she prepared dinner. As she cooked, she realized Emma hadn’t had anything to eat or drink in almost 24 hours.

 _I can’t have her getting dehydrated,_ she thought to herself. _Especially not after she’s lost so much blood._

She shuddered at the thought of the dark stain that was still marring the floor in her entryway and resolved to get some water into the blonde before the night was over.

 

* * *

 

Mother and son ate sitting on the floor in Regina’s room. Neither wanted to leave Emma alone, even for a few minutes. They spent a few hours talking and reading comics together quietly. Regina felt her heart swell with happiness – they hadn’t spent so much quality time together in years, but it was nearing Henry’s bedtime.

“I’m going to try to wake her up so that I can give her some water,” Regina said, readying a cup on the nightstand. “She might not be awake for long this time either, but I’m sure she’d be glad to see you. I am also planning on removing the curse from her tonight and I don’t want you to be in the room for that. We will say goodnight here, and then you must stay in your room for the night. Do not come in until the morning no matter what happens.”

“Why not? What will happen?” he asked, confused and a bit worried by her firm orders.

“It’s going to hurt a lot,” she warned him. “She might yell or scream in pain, but it’s very important that you don’t open the door. It should be perfectly fine, but if I am distracted it might bounce back and hurt her even worse. It could even come out wrong and hurt you or me, so do not come to the door no matter what you hear. Do you understand?” she regarded him seriously, needing him to appreciate the gravity of the situation.

“I understand,” he said. “Will she be okay, though? Even if it hurts?”

“I’ll do my best to help her feel better afterwards, I promise,” she replied, putting a hand on his shoulder to guide him to the bed. “But be aware that she might be in pain when she wakes up, even before I start,” she warned him.

Regina sat beside Emma and carefully lifted her head and shoulders to prop Emma up against her own body. She kept Emma mostly horizontal but elevated her head enough for her to be able to drink.

Emma’s breathing changed when the pain from the movement filtered through, dragging her closer to consciousness. Emma shuddered in pain as she came to and subconsciously tried to curl inward toward the comforting heat of Regina’s body. Pain stopped her motion once again and with a weak groan she opened her eyes instead. Her bleary vision registered two brown-haired silhouettes hovering above her, and a familiar voice.

“Ma?” A familiar young voice, that is. Trembling in concern.

“H’nry?” she mumbled to the smaller figure as they both finally came into focus.

“Ma!” the joyous exclamation was followed by the feeling of her hand clenched between two smaller ones. “You’re awake!”

“Kid-” her voice broke off in a dry rasp, and she resisted the urge to cough. Suddenly, a cup was being held to her lips.

“Drink some water, Emma,” a deeper voice encouraged. All at once, Emma was aware of the warmth supporting her head and shoulders, and of dark eyes looking softly down at her. The light shining from the ceiling was positioned just behind Regina’s head forming a halo around her face. The residual fogginess of Emma’s mind and vision only amplified this effect and she stared in wonder for a moment before being brought back to reality by the cup bumping against her mouth.

She closed her eyes in relief as the water quenched the dryness in her throat. The cup was pulled away all too soon and Emma couldn’t hold back a pitiful little whine at the loss. She frowned in embarrassment at her current helplessness.

“Not too fast, now,” Regina’s patient voice cautioned. “The last thing we need is for you to start coughing.” Emma was mildly surprised to hear no bite in her tone at all, and she marveled at how the warm voice put her instantly at ease.

“Henry,” she whispered again, ignoring her pain and forcing her eyes open to see her son.

“It’s okay, Ma. You don’t have to try and talk. I’m just glad you woke up.” He hugged her uninjured arm tightly, not wanting to hurt her by touching her anywhere else. She managed to make her hand move enough to weakly stroke his face and he smiled.

Regina continued to give Emma little sips of water as Henry told her again, now that she was awake, how his feelings about magic had changed. Regina kept a close eye on the woman in her arms, and noticed a tightness growing in Emma’s face and a rigidness developing in her shoulders. Emma’s breaths became shallower and the faintest shine of tears began to show in her eyes, so finally Regina spoke up.

“I think it’s time for bed, Henry,” she prompted gently. He looked like he might argue for a moment, but she looked at him meaningfully and he ultimately nodded.

“All right. Goodnight Mom, Ma. I hope you feel better soon,” he said, leaning in to let them both kiss him on the head. He smiled when Emma managed to whisper goodnight, but before long he was padding reluctantly out of the room.

As soon as the door closed behind him, Emma let go of the control she’d held over her features and her previously tense face transformed into a grimace. Her breath hitched with a small sound of pain and, as she closed her eyes, a tear leaked out and slid down her cheek.

“Oh Emma,” Regina murmured, wiping it away and squeezing her gently. “He was so glad to see you awake. You know you don’t have to hold it together for him. He’ll understand if you’re hurting right now.” Emma mumbled something in reply, and Regina had to ask her to repeat herself.

“Chest hurts…” Emma gasped, her weak and trembling hand hovering over the area but afraid to touch.

“I know, dear,” Regina replied. “That’s where the curse struck you. It left a mark and there is some magic trapped inside.” Fear filled Emma’s eyes at that, so Regina took her hand and squeezed it to calm her.  

“I put a spell over it to keep it from affecting you, but it must be wearing off now. To get rid of it for good I need to get close to you like before if that’s all right. I think you’ll feel a lot better once it’s gone.” Emma nodded her consent, though she couldn’t really remember what “before” was like through her pain and confusion.

Nevertheless, Emma did not stiffen or resist when Regina shifted to press herself against the length of Emma’s side. Instead, she closed her eyes and focused on the warmth soothing her aching body. Regina slid one arm under Emma’s neck and rested Emma’s head against her shoulder to prepare them both for what was to come.

“I have to put my hand directly on the mark. It will hurt, but hopefully only for a moment. Are you ready?” Emma nodded again with her jaw clenched tight. She turned her head toward Regina, subconsciously seeking comfort. Emma’s shallow, anxious breaths against Regina’s neck made the older woman shiver slightly. Her free hand found the hem of Emma’s tank top and slipped underneath.

Emma shuddered at the touch of Regina’s fingers on her bare skin, but her discomfort was quickly superseded by agony when Regina pressed her hand on the magic-laden scar. She screamed and convulsed in pain, and Regina threw a leg over Emma’s body to hold her down even as she sent her magic to the wound. Regina’s magic, powered as much by her will as by the urgency created by Emma’s cries, quickly located and removed the vestiges of Cora’s curse. It dissipated into the air as green smoke, leaving a trembling, sobbing Emma behind.

“I’m sorry, Emma, but you’re okay now – you’re okay,” Regina said, trying to soothe the traumatized woman. She moved her hand from Emma’s chest to wipe away the tears and cradled Emma’s head close to her heart. She once again let magic flow gently from herself to Emma and as it spread through Emma’s body and repaired her magic the pain lessened.

Emma’s breathing was still rough and she was still crying, but she didn’t seem quite as distressed by the time Regina’s magic gave out and left them both lying in the bed. Emma whimpered helplessly from the aftershocks of pain with tears still streaming down her face. Eventually Regina’s hand stroking her hair distracted her and she gradually became aware of a steady heartbeat under her ear and a gentle low voice humming unintelligibly through the chest her head was resting upon. Dazed by the pain, but sedated by the influx of magic and the security of the warmth around her, Emma found herself mercifully sinking into a pain-free oblivion.

Regina couldn’t help a small sigh of relief when she felt Emma’s tortured body finally go limp in her arms. She remained wrapped protectively around Emma mostly for her own comfort. Emma’s agonized screams still echoed in her ears and Regina clutched the still form close to her chest. The front of her shirt was wet with Emma’s tears.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered again into dirty blonde hair. Soon enough, the exhaustion brought on by the magic use overcame Regina. Her last moment of awareness was consumed by the natural and distinct scent of Emma in the hair beneath her nose. She pressed a soft kiss into the tangled mess before finally relaxing with her savior held safe in her arms.

 

* * *

 

Regina was relieved to wake near dawn after a full, uninterrupted night’s rest. She was even more relieved to find Emma breathing slowly and regularly, relaxed and deeply asleep against her side. Still a little drowsy, Regina regarded the woman lying beside her tenderly. She had certainly been through a lot of pain, and for what?

 _For me,_ she thought sleepily. _You brave idiot._

Regina gradually came to notice that her own arms were still wrapped around the blonde in a loose embrace. Instead of moving away, she leaned her forehead against Emma’s temple and closed her eyes. She thought that it should feel weird, holding Emma Swan like this. But it didn’t. _It’s nice_ , she decided, and sighed peacefully. Emma was just so _warm_.

 _Maybe a little_ too _warm…_ Regina mused, and raised a hand to Emma’s forehead. She didn’t feel overly feverish, but Regina resolved to take the unconscious woman’s temperature even so.

_I can’t have her getting an infection before I’m strong enough to heal her. Perhaps I should check on her wounds and change her bandages._

Regina carefully pulled away from Emma, relieved that her departure didn’t wake the injured woman.

 _Maybe I can do all of that before she wakes and spare her the pain later,_ she thought as she tucked the blankets around Emma.

_But first, Henry._

Regina made her way to her bedroom door, and as soon as she opened it she gasped in shock. Henry, who had evidently been leaning against it, toppled into the room half awake.

“Mom!” he exclaimed in a whisper, rubbing his eyes and jumping to his feet. “Is she okay? What happened?”

“Henry, were you out there all night?” she asked, noticing the pillow and blanket lying on the floor.

“Not all night,” he reassured her. “I heard her screaming last night and I couldn’t sleep very well, so when I woke up really early I came here so that when it became morning and it was safe to come in I could see her first thing.

“Oh Henry, I’m so sorry. I would have come to get you last night after I finished, but-”

“No, it’s fine! She needed you to be there with her, I’m sure. Did it work? Is the curse gone?”

“It is,” she said. “And it did hurt her a lot to remove it, but she’s resting now. I need to check her temperature and tend to her wounds. Would you like to help me?” He nodded eagerly and slipped past her to the bed while Regina gathered bandages. When she returned, Henry was leaning over Emma’s still form.

“She looks a little better, Mom,” he said as she sat down on Emma’s other side with her supplies. “Is her magic fixed yet?” Regina touched Emma’s forehead briefly and let a little magic out to investigate.

“Not quite. One more time should finish repairing it, though. She should start feeling a lot better soon.” Henry smiled widely in response and watched as Regina pulled Emma’s lax jaw open with a thumb on her chin to insert the thermometer beneath her tongue.

“99.8,” Regina informed him once it registered. “Maybe a little high, but nothing to worry about just yet.” Henry put a hand on Emma’s forehead and felt the slight extra heat under his palm. Regina carefully uncovered Emma’s sleeping body and began unwrapping her knee first.

“It’s okay if you don’t want to look,” Regina cautioned Henry. “It might be pretty bad.”

“No, I want to see,” Henry insisted, and Regina saw Emma in his curiosity and stubbornness and she smiled at him.

_It certainly won’t be worse than what he saw when we first showed up in the entryway._

She avoided moving Emma as much as possible, knowing that it might wake her up. The bandages from Emma’s knee came off dark and stiff with drying blood. The wound was raw and deep and it began to bleed again slowly. Regina felt her stomach twist.

 _That will take a lot of magic to repair_.

But Henry seemed unfazed and simply watched as Regina repacked and wrapped up Emma’s knee, once again holding pressure on it for a while to make it stop bleeding.

Emma’s left wrist was still swollen and dark with bruises when Regina revealed it, and she feared that it might be broken. The scrapes from where Emma struck the ground tracked all the way to her elbow and began to bleed as the bandage pulled at the developing scabs. Regina quickly covered them with an ointment and rebandaged the damaged limb. She did the same for the slash on Emma’s jaw.

She rolled Emma onto her uninjured side to access the back of her head, and when Emma snuffled and twitched she feared she had woken her, but the blonde soon lay still once more and Henry and Regina both let out a relieved breath. It was difficult to see the wound under all the dried blood in Emma’s hair, but the swelling was going down much to Regina’s relief. She carefully slid the bandages underneath Emma’s head to avoid lifting it and waking her.

When she was done and had brought the blankets back up around Emma’s shoulders, she noticed Henry stifle a yawn.

“Are you tired?” she asked, sympathetically. He nodded in response, rubbing his eyes.

“I was worried about her,” he explained. “Didn’t sleep too good.”

“Too _well_ ,” Regina corrected and smiled at the mildly annoyed look he shot her. “It’s still barely light outside. Why don’t you take a nap here with us?” He nodded and snuggled up against Emma’s back under the blankets.

It didn’t take long for him to fall asleep with Regina stroking his hair. He had always loved that.

 _Just like Emma,_ she noted silently, her eyes softening as she gazed at the innocence in both of their sleeping faces.

Eventually she joined them in the bed. She settled in facing Emma and carefully took her limp hand under the blanket again. She had once hated the idea of sharing her bed – neither trusting nor loving anyone enough to do so.

But this… this was different. It was nothing less than a delight to lay there with Emma and their son beside her. Lacing their fingers together, she let out a peaceful sigh at the environment in which she found herself. So, with the warmth of Emma’s palm pressed against hers, Regina let herself drift off to sleep once more.

 

* * *

 

When Regina next woke near noon, she found herself alone with Emma. She gently squeezed the hand still clasped in her own before releasing it to sit up and stretch. Emma was breathing easily, her face relaxed and still. Regina smoothed back a strand of hair that had escaped from the bandages around Emma’s head and fallen near her mouth.

“I’m not satisfied with what little water you drank last night,” Regina quietly informed her companion. “You need to stay awake long enough to eat a meal next time.” Emma slept on, oblivious.

Regina took the opportunity to take a shower, and when she walked back into her bedroom fully dressed she found Henry sitting next to Emma, who hadn’t moved.

“Do you think you can heal her some today?” he asked quietly when she approached.

“Maybe,” she replied. “I think I can finish fixing her magic at least, but before I try I really want to get her to eat something and drink some more water. Even if sleeping is helping her, she still needs food and water to live. That is not something that can be easily supplied with magic.” Henry agreed and waited with Emma while Regina made her way to the kitchen.

She made a thick, hearty soup and brought three servings upstairs with her. She had once forbidden eating in bedrooms, but given the circumstances she was more than willing to let it slide for a while. After she was finished with her portion, she rolled Emma onto her back and propped her limp form up on several pillows. Emma groaned as the movement shifted her broken ribs and she winced, trying to draw her arms up to protect herself.

“Emma, it’s all right – you’re safe. Open your eyes for me.” The voice calling Emma to wakefulness was familiar and soft; just the sound of it eased her pain. Disoriented green eyes opened to see Regina leaning over her. The warm hand on her shoulder squeezed gently and Emma blinked, finally regaining her senses.

“Regina?” she whispered to the soft figure before her. Dressed in a simple t-shirt, the mayor had lost the sharp edges of her usual persona in favor of this tender version who was gently _smiling_ at her.

“Glad you could join us, dear,” Regina said, letting the faintest hint of a smirk touch the corner of her mouth.

“Ma!” Henry’s exclamation tore Emma’s eyes away from the woman and she looked to her other side to find her son grinning at her. “You look better today!” His obvious excitement and relief brought a small smile to her lips, too, though she kept from moving her bruised and cut face too much.

“I feel a bit better,” she said, though her voice was still a weak rasp. Before she could try to continue, Regina was holding a cup to her lips. Brown eyes silently pleaded for her to drink, so Emma did. Immediately her throat felt better. “Kinda hungry,” she mumbled around the rim of the cup.

“I would expect so,” Regina said, drawing the cup away and bringing the bowl of soup closer. Emma’s eyes widened as the scent reached her and Regina laughed a little at the sight. She fished Emma’s uninjured arm out from under the blankets to hand her the spoon, and Regina held the bowl under Emma’s chin to minimize drips.

Glad that Regina wasn’t going to make her undergo the humiliation of being fed like a baby, Emma set to work on the soup.

About halfway through the bowl, Emma’s arm began to tremble. Regina watched in concern as the blonde struggled to raise the spoon to her mouth. Frustration furrowed Emma’s brow, evident even beneath all of the bandages. Fortunately for her pride, Henry had wandered off some time ago and wouldn’t be witness to her anguish and the wetness in her eyes.

“Emma, what’s wrong?” Regina asked softly, bringing her free hand up to steady Emma’s loose grip on the spoon.

“I-I’m… I can’t… nngh.” Emma broke off with a shudder of pain. Finally, she let her arm drop and her shoulders slumped in defeat. “I... I can’t hold my arm up anymore.” Regina’s heart broke for the injured woman as a tear of helpless frustration slid down Emma’s cheek.

“It’s okay, dear. I’m proud of how long you did.” Emma looked up in wary surprise, but Regina just smiled at her and brushed her tear away. “You were hurt very badly for my sake. Just the fact that you’ve been awake as long as you have today is enough for me.”

Distracted by Regina’s words and the unexpectedly gentle touch, Emma was somewhat startled when a spoon deposited more warm broth between her partly opened lips. She swallowed reflexively and frowned, casting her eyes down in a mixture of anger and humiliation. A scowl formed on her bruised and bandaged face, but before she could articulate any sort of refusal, Regina spoke.

“Emma,” Regina began insistently. She lifted Emma’s chin with gentle fingers in an attempt to meet her eyes. “I’ve been very worried about you.” Emma’s expression softened only slightly, but it was a start.

“It doesn’t make you weak to accept help, and I promise I will never hold any of this against you. I know you hate feeling helpless or vulnerable, Emma. I do, too. But you need to eat as much as you can so you can keep getting better. I really need you to let me help you. If I was hurt you would want to do the same for me, wouldn’t you?”

Emma considered her words and the sincerity in her eyes and ultimately surrendered, allowing Regina to feed her the remainder of the soup. The thought that Regina genuinely worried for her made a warmth grow in Emma’s chest that had nothing to do with the temperature of the broth Regina was giving her.

When the bowl was empty, Regina set it aside and helped Emma lie back down. She cried out between gritted teeth when her ribs shifted and weakly thrashed her head from side to side as if to escape the pain.

“I’m sorry,” Regina murmured. “It’ll be better soon. Let me finish fixing your magic now so that you can rest.” Emma didn’t resist as Regina settled down practically on top of her once more, again carefully avoiding the bruised and probably broken ribs on Emma’s left side.

Emma briefly thought that the pressure of Regina’s body against hers should have felt restrictive and trapping, but instead she felt overwhelmingly secure and she gave a shallow, peaceful sigh. A light smile developed on her face when Regina cradled the side of her head with a soft hand and began to glow.

“Not complaining, but what exactly are you doing?” Emma slurred drowsily. The influx of magic and Regina’s warmth relaxed her immensely.

“I’m using my magic to repair yours so that I can start healing your injuries,” Regina replied gently, realizing that Emma was probably not used to being so physically close to anyone, never mind Regina herself.

“Cora’s spell almost _killed_ you, and I’m still not entirely sure how you survived. We may find out more later if there were any witnesses, but nobody is leaving this house until you are further recovered. We are relatively safe where we are for now and I will not risk Cora hurting you again, my dear.” Her voice was firm but kind. Emma could tell she was still worried – perhaps for good reason.

Emma was frighteningly weak and still in significant pain. Apart from her recent meal, she had hardly been able to keep her eyes open for more than a few minutes at a time. Nevertheless, she did her best to lean into Regina’s hand which still rested on her cheek. She let her eyes fall closed and relaxed, giving in to the comforting warmth around and within her. Emma trusted Regina, so she let herself drift away feeling incredibly safe.

Regina herself seemed to sense this as Emma’s breaths grew slow and regular in sleep, and tears pricked her eyes. This strong, fiercely independent woman who could hardly handle having real parents and wouldn’t even let Henry see her cry had put so much faith in her letting Regina feed her and hold her like this.

“Thank you for letting me take care of you,” Regina whispered quietly as the glow faded, leaving Emma’s magic completely restored. There was no response of course, but Regina simply smiled against Emma’s collarbone and lay still for a while, listening to Emma’s heartbeat. It was amazing how effortlessly the sound of it calmed and relaxed her. Using her magic up to the farthest reaches of her limits was exhausting, too. Even though she had already slept the whole morning away, she felt herself fading. With a peaceful sigh, she let the steady thrum under her ear lull her to sleep.

 

* * *

 

“Regina.” The soft voice was the first thing Regina heard a few hours later, albeit through a haze of sleep. She was so incredibly comfortable, still numb, and thoroughly unwilling to respond.

“Regina,” the sound came again and the barely-awake woman in question huffed and tried to ignore it, nuzzling into the solid warmth under her cheek. It was heavenly and she was already drifting off again.

“Regina, please…” A strain was present in the voice this time, and the pitiful plea finally roused Regina from her slumber. She blinked her eyes open and raised her head to find herself iris-to-iris with pained green eyes.

“Emma?” she asked groggily.

“Hey,” came the apologetic reply. “Sorry I had to wake you up but I gotta… I really have to pee…” Emma would have squirmed in discomfort if her body weren’t so sore and Regina’s weight so solid on top of her.

Regina grumbled unintelligibly, moving her hand from the side of Emma’s head to hover over the injured woman’s abdomen. She moved her fingers and Emma stiffened as a tendril of magic flowed into her body. When it disappeared, so did her need to pee.

“What…” she gasped in confusion and slight awe.

“I simply vanished the contents of your bladder. Now, will you let me sleep?” Regina didn’t bother to wait for a response and returned her head to Emma’s chest. A slight, incredulous laugh moved it up and down under her head, but Emma was otherwise silent. Then a hand came to rest on Regina’s back and applied weak pressure in some semblance of a hug and Regina smiled. Emma may have woken her in the middle of a sleep cycle, but she couldn’t begrudge her for it.

_It’s good that she’s becoming hydrated enough to even need to pee._

“Go back to sleep, Emma,” she whispered, and brought her hand up to caress Emma’s face again. Emma hummed peacefully and settled down under Regina’s weight.

Emma felt much better than before. While her body still hurt a lot, the sick feeling and the horrible ache in her bones from her magical injury was gone.

 _Thanks to you_ , she thought, gazing affectionately at the top of Regina’s head.

The exhausted brunette had already fallen back asleep. Emma frowned at the thought that taking care of her had worn Regina out so much. She rubbed her thumb back and forth against the soft fabric on Regina’s back. The sleeping woman gave a little sigh and the hand by Emma’s head curled to unconsciously rest the backs of her fingers against Emma’s cheek. Emma smiled and closed her eyes. Even if her body wasn’t hurting, which it was, there was no way she would disturb the peacefully slumbering weight on top of her.

Regina’s warmth completely surrounded her. The soft scent of her recently washed hair wafted up to Emma’s nose and she inhaled it in bliss. The subsequent movement of her ribs sent sharp pain darting through her chest and she winced.

 _Nothing for it but to get some more rest,_ she thought.

She splayed her hand out on Regina’s back to keep her close and relaxed, letting sleep claim her wounded body once more.


	4. Chapter 4

When Regina woke on her own about an hour later Emma was fast asleep. She carefully got up and realized immediately that she missed Emma’s warmth. Nevertheless, she tucked the blankets around Emma and turned off the lights completely so she could rest in quiet darkness.

Regina found Henry sprawled on the living room floor, playing with legos. He sat up immediately when she walked into the room.

“Mom, come build with me!”

Regina couldn’t have stopped the beaming smile that covered her face even if she had wanted to. His favor was something she had craved for over a year, even before Emma had shown up. To her delight, he beckoned her to sit with him on the ground.

“You can find all the bricks shaped like this,” he said, “and give them to me. I’m making a fort!” Happy to be invited to play with him, Regina busied herself with digging through the container of blocks. She built with him silently for a while, reminiscing on how they used to do this together all the time.

“Henry… I’m so sorry about how things were between us. I’ve missed this.”

“Me too, Mom,” he said. “And I’m sorry, too. I said some really mean things. Emma told me that you really are trying to be better and I see it. I was just mad.”

“I understand,” she replied. “I’ve done a lot of terrible things, but lying to you like that… hurting _you?_ There are very few things that I regret more than that. I am so, so sorry.”

“I know you are, Mom. Archie’s been telling me I should try to forgive you, but I didn’t want to listen before.”

“Archie,” Regina murmured wistfully. The man really had tried to help her and, despite the breach of patient privacy, he seemed to have done nothing but vouch for her character to her loved ones. _Wait, ‘loved ones’ plural?_

“David said somebody hurt Archie the night before we came here,” Henry began, breaking into her thoughts. “What happened? Is he okay?” Regina frowned. She had not anticipated breaking the news of Archie’s death to her son. She had been subconsciously avoiding even thinking about what happened in favor of keeping Emma alive and now her heart was aching.

“Cora disguised herself as me and attacked him,” she said. “Emma used magic and Pongo’s memories to figure out what actually happened, but Henry… when she attacked him…” she trailed off.

“Mom?” Henry’s voice was suddenly small and afraid.

“I won’t lie to you,” she said, tears choking her voice. “Not anymore. Cora… she killed him, Henry.”

“Archie’s dead?!” he gasped in horror.

“Emma found his body the next day. I’m so sorry.” Tears were filling both of their eyes and with a ragged sob Henry buried himself in her arms.

“She… she almost killed Emma, too,” Henry realized aloud after a while. “She really could have.” Regina just nodded, holding him tighter as the sickening thought sank into them both. Suddenly, he ripped himself from her embrace and bolted for the stairs, pulling her along behind him by one hand. He led her straight to her bedroom where Emma lay. When he scrambled onto the bed Regina feared he would wake its sleeping occupant, but Emma didn’t stir even when Henry all but molded himself to her side. He was still for a tense moment, but quickly began to sob in relief when he heard and felt Emma’s steady breaths. Regina carefully sat on the side of the bed behind him.

“She’s alive, Henry. You haven’t lost her.” She reached out and smoothed a hand along his back. He sat up and fell into her embrace once more, desperate for comfort and reassurance.

“Do you promise, Mom?” he asked, sounding far younger than his eleven years. “Do you promise she’ll be okay?”

“There’s no way I can guarantee that, honey,” she said soothingly. “But I promise that I will do absolutely everything I can to keep her with us for a long, long time.”

Henry refused to leave Emma for the rest of the evening. He didn’t seem keen on having Regina far from him either, so both brunettes sat beside Emma as she slept. Henry stayed snuggled against Emma and pulled Regina to his other side. Sandwiched between his mothers, able to feel both of them alive and breathing, Henry felt safe. He and Regina talked about Archie a bit, but mostly he grieved and Regina held him until he had cried himself to sleep.

When the room became dark from the setting sun, Regina carefully shifted Henry to lie beside Emma and went to fix dinner. She prepared a normal meal for herself and Henry, and another bowl of soup for Emma. When she returned, Henry was awake and sitting up. He reluctantly got up to keep from getting food in the bedding as he ate, and quickly returned to Emma’s side once he was done. He still seemed unsettled, and Regina hoped that talking with Emma would help him feel better. She sat down on Emma’s other side and began to gently wake her.

“Emma,” she called softly, and ran the backs of her fingers down Emma’s cheek. “Time to wake up.” There was no response and she had to shake the sleeping woman gently and call her name a little louder to rouse her. _Such a deep sleeper. I suppose that’s genetic, too._ Emma took a slightly deeper breath and consequently groaned.

“Easy, dear,” Regina soothed, trying to keep Emma from moving and causing herself pain as she woke.

“Ma?” Henry’s anxious voice seemed to wake her a little more and sleepy green eyes opened halfway.

“Hmm? Henry?” Emma rasped groggily. As soon as she registered the distraught expression on his face, her eyes opened wide.

“Henry, what’s wrong?” she asked, and began to cast her eyes about the room. They settled on Regina and she noticeably relaxed upon finding the woman apparently unharmed, though the solemn expression on Regina’s face still alarmed her.

“Archie…” Henry whispered miserably, once again on the verge of tears.

“Oh kid,” Emma murmured in dismayed realization. With Regina’s help, she freed her good arm from the blankets to wrap it weakly around his shoulders as he huddled in close.

“Mom said – Cora killed him – almost killed _you_ ,” he gasped between sobs.

“Henry, I’m okay,” she insisted quietly as he buried his face in her neck. Regina joined her in trying to comfort their son, reaching over Emma to rub his back. Emma met her eyes with such an expression of helplessness that it tugged at Regina’s heart almost as much as their son’s tears did. She thought back to Emma telling her that she was a good mom and had given Henry a better life than she ever could.

 _She’s never comforted a child before,_ Regina realized.

Emma’s eyes were wet with sorrow and probably physical pain, and she was clearly out of her depth with their son, so Regina leaned over and wrapped her arms around both of them.

_Maybe nobody has ever comforted her much either._

“It’s okay,” Regina murmured, putting her forehead against Henry’s and leaving Emma’s vision lost in a sea of brown. “She’s right here, Henry.” With one arm joining Emma’s around Henry’s back and the other cradling Emma’s head, Regina pressed close to her little family and tried not to think too much about how right it felt for that concept to include the blonde in her arms.

Emma took a shuddering breath, evidently trying not to cry, and Regina stroked her hair soothingly until she pulled herself together.

“I’m all right, kid,” she said finally. “Your mom’s taking really good care of me. I feel way better, and I think I’m going to be okay.” Henry sat up and looked anxiously at Regina for confirmation, and she nodded. He smiled and roughly wiped his sleeve over his face.

“Okay, good. Cuz I want to play with legos and read comic books with _both_ of you.”

“You will, dear,” Regina said soothingly. “Why don’t you go pick one out and we can all read it together after Emma eats?” He nodded in response and got up to look for one.

Regina gave Emma’s scalp a fond little scratch and helped her sit up. She still grimaced, but quickly settled against the pillows Regina pulled behind her. She smiled gratefully at the older woman as Regina held the bowl of soup for her. Emma clearly felt stronger and her arm didn’t waver as she ate.

“I finished it all by myself,” she stated proudly some minutes later, nodding to her empty bowl. Regina’s lips pursed in response. “What’s that face for?” Emma asked, eyes narrowing.

“You should admire my restraint,” Regina replied with a grin. “I held back a very patronizing comment just for you.” Emma laughed quietly and handed over the spoon.

“How are you really feeling?” Regina asked, placing it aside. With Henry still out of the room, she hoped to get an honest answer from Emma.

“Not awful,” she replied. “It still hurts a lot to move or breathe, but I feel a lot better in general since you fixed my magic. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, dear. I’m so glad you’re awake; Henry has been very worried about you.” _As have I_ , she added silently.

“I can tell. Poor kid – I’m sorry you had to break the news to him about Archie.”

“I hate it,” Regina frowned, clenching her fists. “Another good, innocent person is dead because of me.”

“Don’t say that,” Emma insisted. “He didn’t die because of you. He died because Cora is a murderous psychopath. Please don’t blame yourself, Regina.” She reached out and took Regina’s hand, unfurling her fingers and winding her own between them. This easy physical affection was still very new to the two of them, but the intimacy they had shared over the past few days kept it from being awkward. Emma squeezed her hand and the furrows in Regina’s brow smoothed out as she squeezed back with a tiny smile.

“Are you comfortable? When he finally picks a comic book, we’ll certainly be reading it all the way through.”

“I’m fine as long as I don’t move,” she replied. “Whatever comes, I’m in it for the long haul.” It came off as a bit of a non-sequitur but with the way she was gazing steadfastly at Regina it somehow made sense. It was reassuring, in a way, to know that the woman she had once tried to drive off was so committed to staying in their son’s life.

 _And therefore in mine, too,_ Regina realized and couldn’t stop the warmth that spread in her chest. She shifted on the bed to sit up against the headboard beside Emma. There was space enough between them for Henry to sit once he returned, but their hands remained intertwined.

 

* * *

 

“Turok and Andar?” Regina asked when Henry returned and presented his chosen comic. Her eyes gleamed with memories, and mother and son both smiled widely.

“Yeah! This is my favorite series,” he explained to Emma. “And when I read them with Mom, she does the voices and I make the dinosaur sounds!” Emma smirked over at Regina, who rolled her eyes at Emma and released her hand to help Henry get up and in between them. He handed the comic book over to Regina and snuggled in, angled with his back against Emma’s side to see the pages better. With some difficulty, Emma lifted her good arm and wrapped it around both Henry and Regina and leaned in to listen.

As they read, Regina’s soft low voice occasionally interspersed with velociraptor sounds from the boy in between them, they all seemed to settle even closer together. Soon enough, Emma’s head rested against Regina’s shoulder and she closed her eyes. The comic’s heroes had left the dinosaurs far behind by the time Emma drifted off.

When the story ended, Regina put a finger to her lips and silently gestured for Henry to turn around. He did so carefully and smiled at the sight of Emma slumped over fast asleep against his adoptive mother. Regina sent him to get ready for bed and set about carefully re-arranging her sleeping companion. She slid her arm under Emma’s back and pulled her close to lift her off of the pillows that held her upright.

“Shh, it’s okay. Just rest, Emma,” she urged quietly when Emma stirred in her arms and groaned. She eased the mostly-asleep woman onto her back slowly to keep from causing her pain. Despite a grimace or two, Emma soon lay comfortably in the bed once more. Regina lingered for a moment, making sure Emma had fallen back asleep before she got up to tuck Henry into bed.

“It’s kind of funny,” Henry commented minutes later as they sat together on his bed. “You’re taking care of her like you do for me, but you used to hate her so much.”

“I never truly hated her, Henry,” Regina explained, though the realization was new to herself as well. “To be honest, I was afraid. At first I wasn’t sure I could trust her to take care of you, but mostly I didn’t want to lose you. You mean so, _so_ much to me.”

“Even though I was being so mean to you?”

“Even then. Oh Henry, _nothing_ could change how much I love you.” At that, he surged into her arms and she held him tightly. Having Henry hugging her of his own volition and not under emotional duress was the best thing she’d felt since her fingers had found a racing pulse on Emma’s bloodstained neck a few days prior.

“I love you too, Mom,” he said quietly, and tears of joy pricked her eyes. Eventually she felt him start to fall asleep against her and she laid him back in bed.

“Are you going to heal Emma tomorrow?” he asked sleepily as Regina pulled the blanket up to his shoulders and turned off his lamp.

“I will try,” she promised. “Get some rest, my little prince.”

Regina had barely closed his door when the faint sound of fearful, panicked cries reached her ears and had her sprinting down the hallway before she could think. She rushed into her bedroom and her heart plummeted into her stomach at the sight of Emma. She was lying just as Regina had left her – too weak to do otherwise – but her face was contorted with pain and a variety of other emotions Regina didn’t take the time to decipher. Her body was rigid, and her limbs pushed weakly and ineffectively at the blankets covering her as she writhed and cried out.

“Emma!” Regina exclaimed, kneeling on the bed and leaning over the hysterical woman. She reached out and held Emma’s face in her hands, using her thumbs to wipe at the tears streaming from tightly-shut eyes. She continued to frantically call her name and shake her, hoping to bring Emma back to reality. Her thrashing began to slow, much to Regina’s relief.

“Emma, what happened? Are you okay?” Emma weakly opened her streaming eyes a crack, but upon recognizing Regina’s worried face hovering over her, her eyes shot wide open.

“Re-Regina?!” she gasped, shock replacing some of the pain in her expression. The bewilderment in Emma’s eyes was alarming, and there was a hint of terror and disbelief in her tone.

“Emma, calm down dear. You’re safe,” Regina tried to soothe the panicking woman. She kept one hand on Emma’s face and dropped the other to her shoulder, squeezing her arm firmly to try and ground her.

Emma, however, would not be so easily consoled. With desperate whimpers and gasps, stopping only occasionally to shudder in overwhelming pain, she forced herself onto her uninjured side to be closer to Regina and clung to her hand as if she were drowning. Tremors and tears wracked her body, but slowly began to subside as Regina gently rubbed her back. She bent low over Emma and did her best to murmur comforting things, but it seemed like her physical presence was helping more than any of her other efforts.

Regina recognized this and slid into the bed next to Emma, facing her and allowing the traumatized woman to curl against her. Only when Emma’s ear rested over her heart did Regina notice the tension beginning to leave Emma’s shoulders. Warmth flooded Regina’s chest when she realized that her closeness was truly helping Emma.

 _Don’t get used to it, Swan_ , she thought, but found herself completely unwilling to voice even that mild teasing sentiment to the pitiful figure weakly clinging to her in bed. This was not the time to snark at Emma. Not _this_ Emma, who was so hurt and scared and relying so heavily on her.

_Besides, would it be the worst thing in the world to get used to this?_

Then Emma’s voice interrupted her thoughts.

“I wasn’t fast enough.” The hoarse words came laden with tears and were barely audible under stifled sobs.

“Fast enough? What do you mean?” Regina asked, her voice soft and calming as she continued rubbing circles against Emma’s tense back.

“Couldn’t save you,” Emma gasped, still half-trapped in the nightmare. “She _killed_ you!”

“I’m okay, Emma,” Regina reassured her, touched and surprised that the image of her death had affected Emma so severely. “I’m right here.” Emma’s brow was furrowed, though her eyes had fallen shut and she was still trying to get closer. She shook her head weakly, grabbing at Regina’s shirt.

“You… you died right in front of me _and I couldn’t-”_ the rush of words caught in Emma’s throat and she choked and coughed violently. She let out a sob of emotional and physical pain.

“Shh, calm down dear or you’ll make yourself sick,” Regina admonished gently. She was glad that Emma couldn’t see the concern and rising panic on her face as she struggled to soothe the shaking woman in her arms. She pulled Emma as close as possible and held her securely.

“I’m right here, Emma. Breathe with me, okay?” And apart from a few more gasps, Emma eventually managed to pattern her breathing after the rise and fall of Regina’s chest under her head. Now that Emma wasn’t so emotionally worked up and had managed to be still for a little while, the pain and fear were beginning to fade.

“Regina? D-Dream? I thought… sorry… did I wake you?” Emma’s disjointed thoughts finally coalesced into a contrite question and she tried to look up at Regina’s face.

“No, dear, I was already awake. And even if I wasn’t, it’s okay. You need to rest easy, and you can’t do that if you’re having nightmares,” Regina said, absently brushing Emma’s hair back from her forehead.

Emma closed her eyes in bliss at the gentle touch. The pain in her body had eased to a dull ache so long as she kept still, and being somewhat inexperienced in the realm of tender caresses Emma sought to enjoy this moment for as long as she could. She basked in the heat of Regina’s body against hers and the security she felt with Regina’s arm curled around her aching back. All too soon, Emma felt consciousness begin to slip away. Her eyelids flickered and she twitched in a futile attempt to remain awake.

“It’s okay,” Regina murmured, continuing to stroke Emma’s hair. “Go back to sleep, Emma. I’ll be right here.” Emma could have sworn that Regina was trailing magic after her fingertips, it felt so good. But even that thought was quickly lost as Emma succumbed to sleep once more.

Regina hadn’t missed the way Emma relaxed fully into her side as soon as she started touching her head. She smiled knowing that she had brought some comfort to her injured savior. She also resolved to keep a closer eye on the woman as she slept to keep her from being tormented by nightmares. It did Emma no good to spend what little strength she had in her mangled limbs fighting ghosts.

Regina wove her fingers into Emma’s greasy, matted hair and tangled them in it thoughtfully. _She needs a shower_ , Regina noted. _It would probably make her feel better to be clean. Tomorrow,_ she decided, and waved her hand over Emma’s abdomen so that she wouldn’t wake with a painfully full bladder anytime soon.

“Sleep well, my dear,” she whispered and kissed her on the forehead before settling in – one arm wrapped around Emma’s back and the other cradling her head against her heart. In this moment, Regina wanted nothing more than to protect the woman who had protected her, and she hoped that holding Emma like this would stave off her nightmares until morning.

 

* * *

 

Emma woke slowly the next morning. Numb to all but the sense of security she felt, she let herself rest quietly in it for a moment. She was surrounded by warmth and felt completely safe, completely unafraid. It was an unfamiliar sensation to be sure, but she certainly wasn’t complaining.

She was on the brink of falling back asleep when she noticed something else. Her head was being shifted ever so slightly up and down, up and down, as if the pillow it was resting upon was moving.

Breathing.

_Oh._

Awareness flooded into her mind, though she didn’t yet open her eyes. Instead, she took stock of where she found herself. Regina, she knew from a single inhale, was holding her so incredibly close. She was molded against the other woman’s side, and Regina’s arms encased her. She was pretty sure Regina had thrown a leg over her hip too, but she couldn’t know for sure unless she moved and she had no intention of doing that.

She remembered the dream she’d had and swallowed reflexively. It had been… _terrifying._ Seeing Regina murdered right in front of her was indeed the stuff of nightmares, but it helped a lot to know that the woman in question was right next to her. Emma could even hear her heartbeat.

Her unease seemed to have somehow alerted Regina, whose hand began to move. She rubbed little warm circles between Emma’s shoulder blades and Emma automatically melted into her embrace once more.

_Henry grew up with this? Luckiest. Kid. Ever._

“Emma? Are you awake?” the quiet voice came through the chest her ear was resting against and the warmth in Regina’s tone caressed Emma’s mind like the fingers against her back. She mumbled noncommittally in response. Did she have to wake up? It would be so easy to slip back into unconsciousness. The soft lassitude pulling at her awareness was drawing her straight back to sleep, and her worries were dissipating like smoke.

Regina wasn’t hurt or dead.

Regina was right here, holding her.

So Emma rested.

 

* * *

 

Regina smiled when she felt Emma’s breaths even out and her jaw go slack against her chest once more. It warmed her heart to know that she was able to soothe Emma and help her sleep. Regina had slept lightly all night, waking whenever Emma stirred and keeping her from being caught up in another nightmare. She had only approached consciousness a few times during the night, and each time Regina was able to comfort her and ease her back into a restful sleep.

Regina thought that it should be surprising how at-ease she felt with Emma now.

 _The feeling is clearly mutual_ , she mused when Emma snuffled in her sleep and nuzzled into her collarbone. She knew she would eventually have to deal with the feelings of fondness and affection she was rapidly developing toward this woman. She knew she would have to address how much she had enjoyed the closeness, the _teamwork_ to which they had both contributed.

And while it was less than ideal that Emma was injured and in so much pain, it had been good to have her around.

 _For Henry and for me, too._ Thinking to such a time as Emma would leave to resume her normal life made Regina frown and her heart sink more than she thought it would.

 _I’ll miss her. I’ll miss this,_ she thought, looking down at the blood-crusted mop of hair resting on her chest.

She had long thought herself to be completely independent, with no need for other people. That had certainly changed with Henry, but something had changed here recently, too. She had, in the course of only a few days, become addicted to Emma. Addicted to the companionship she provided, addicted to the warmth and weight of Emma’s body against hers, the feeling of Emma’s hand in her own, and the way those green eyes sparkled when Emma looked her way.

It was borderline disgusting, she thought, but couldn’t bring herself to mind too much. Especially when Emma was beginning to wake, making sleepy little noises and wrinkling her nose at a stray strand of hair that was tickling it. Regina silently brushed it away and commenced stroking Emma’s hair soothingly. This time, however, Emma seemed ready to wake up for good.

“Hey,” she said softly, without moving.

“Good morning,” Regina replied. She was about to ask how Emma was feeling when she was interrupted.

“Thank you,” Emma whispered, pressing her head into Regina’s shoulder, “for last night. I… that was a terrible dream and you being here helped a lot.”

“You dreamed you didn’t make it in time?” Regina asked, already fairly certain of the answer.

“Yes,” Emma replied, shuddering. Regina began caressing her back and she relaxed again. “I couldn’t save you.”

“But you did,” Regina reassured her. “You did.”

They were silent for a few minutes, and Regina thought Emma had dropped off to sleep again, which was the only reason why she voiced her next question.

“Why did you save me?”

“Care ‘bout you.” Emma’s words came out slightly muffled in Regina’s shirt, though whether she was embarrassed or just tired, Regina couldn’t tell. She froze and stared at Emma, made uncomfortable by her own vulnerability but also wondering if Emma was even awake enough to respond intelligibly. Emma seemed to recognize this and did her best to wake up more.

“I mean it,” she insisted sincerely, leaning back slightly to look into Regina’s eyes. “I care about you, Regina. I couldn’t let you get hurt.” The softness with which Emma said her name brought tears to Regina’s eyes. Emma noticed immediately and with what little strength she had, she wrapped her arms around Regina and laid her head down on Regina’s shoulder again.

“I really, really do. I know we’ve only technically been friends for like five days, but I’ve known and understood you for longer than that.”

“What makes you think that you understand me?” Regina asked, and Emma was surprised to find no offended venom in her tone but merely a sad resignation. “Because you clearly don’t. How could you see past all the things I’ve done and still care about me? Nobody else ever has.”

“Maybe they never tried to see things through your eyes. And they obviously never met your mother. They don’t look at all the good you’re doing now, you know?” Emma replied. “But I _see you_ , Regina. I care about you.” Though she couldn’t see Regina’s face, the way she was breathing told her that Regina had begun to cry and she frowned.

“I didn’t mean to make you cry.”

“I’m not,” Regina insisted, though her voice cracked audibly and Emma felt her cringe.

“Okay,” was all Emma said, not believing it for a moment but understanding Regina’s need to pretend to be strong. Instead, she snuggled close and hoped that just by being there, by being near, she could help Regina feel better. Regina eventually sighed and relaxed a little, subconsciously pulling Emma closer and drawing comfort from her presence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The scene with Turok and Andar is based on my own childhood, where Dad and I would read the comic series "Turok Son of Stone" together and he'd let me make all the dinosaur sounds. It was the best.


	5. Chapter 5

It was several minutes before Regina got herself back under control, but finally she spoke again.

“Now that your magic is fixed and you’re feeling better, I’d like to see if you can use it to help heal yourself,” Regina said. “You are obviously capable, seeing as I had a lot of burns and multiple broken ribs before you accidentally healed me.”

“You were hurt?!” Emma exclaimed in concern, reaching worriedly for Regina’s side.

“Not for long,” she replied with a smile as she sat up and moved to sit on the side of the bed. “As soon as I brought us here and tried to check on your magic, it overpowered me and healed me completely.”

“Huh. Well, good,” Emma said, somewhat surprised but very much relieved.

“Accordingly, your magic might not be up to its full strength yet, but it’s a good deal stronger than mine is right now. And you clearly have a remarkable innate talent at healing magic, but don’t let that go to your head.”

“Of course not,” Emma said with a proud grin as she very obviously did just that. Regina rolled her eyes and took Emma’s hand.

“Let’s practice with one of the scratches on your arm.” She unwrapped the top of the bandages covering Emma’s mangled left arm and revealed one of the many scrapes. She guided Emma’s right hand to it.

“I know your control over your magic is uncertain still, but try to focus on healing. I want you to envision your skin healed, smooth, and completely mended.” Regina held Emma’s hand firmly on the wound as the blonde closed her eyes and concentrated.

For a moment it seemed like it was working – a white glow covered Emma’s hand and the injury. When it stopped, Regina moved their hands away and frowned. The wound was unchanged.

“But I felt something happening,” Emma complained, “right where it was supposed to.” Regina’s brow furrowed in puzzlement too, but then she looked at her own hand and laughed in astonishment.

“You idiot – you’ve healed my hangnail instead!” she exclaimed in wonder.

“Oh. I’m sorry?” Emma murmured, looking unsure.

“No, it’s okay, dear. Don’t apologize. Thank you, actually. That was very thoughtful of you, but not quite what we were aiming for. I don’t think I have any other minor injuries for you to heal, but just in case I’ll make sure I’m not touching you while you try again.” Regina moved away and Emma put her hand back on her own arm. Her fingers glowed once more, but when the light faded nothing had changed.

“Why isn’t it working?” Emma grumbled, annoyed. “This is stupid.” Regina chuckled at the childish pout on Emma’s face.

“Your streak of succeeding at magic the first time you try something was bound to run out eventually, dear. We can work on it again when you’re stronger. Now hold still and let me try to fix your side. Relax, Emma. I won’t hurt you.” The worried expression on Emma’s face faded at Regina’s reassurance and she obediently lay still as Regina uncovered her badly bruised abdomen and laid a gentle hand over her broken ribs.

Regina’s soft touch didn’t hurt, but Emma had to look away as the light from her hand grew unbearably bright. She closed her eyes as it became blinding, but when she heard a sigh and felt a weight fall against her body she quickly opened them again.

“Regina? Regina!”

“I’m okay, dear,” Regina reassured the panicking woman, though her voice came out far weaker than she had hoped. “I’m just really tired. Give me a moment.”

Her vision had grayed out briefly, but Regina finally regained her senses completely to find herself slumped over Emma’s torso. Seeing so much terror in green eyes tugged at Regina’s heart more than she cared to admit. To know that Emma’s emotion was fear _for_ her instead of fear _of_ her made her throat clench up.

“Are you sure you’re all right?” Emma asked, anxiously rubbing her hand across Regina’s back and clutching at her shirt. “You shouldn’t have done that so soon. I could have waited,” she scolded.  

“You’ve waited long enough,” Regina said dismissively. Emma frowned at that, even as Regina recovered enough to sit up and look her over.

“How do you feel?” Regina asked, searching Emma’s face for any hint of pain.

“Better,” Emma noted, still glaring at Regina. “Don’t do that to yourself again, okay? You scared me.” Regina huffed and didn’t respond otherwise, so Emma grasped her hand.

“I mean it, Regina. I really, _really_ don’t want you to self-destruct by trying to heal me. Please… I hate seeing you hurt.”

Regina’s eyes softened at the earnest worry on her companion’s face. Emma’s concern made her feel immensely cared-for and, though it was an unusual experience, Regina couldn’t deny that she enjoyed and appreciated it.

“Healing your ribs was important, though,” Regina insisted nonetheless. “It was causing you, and therefore me, a lot of distress. The pain was restricting your breathing, and you could have easily developed pneumonia from it. Had you moved wrong, you could have caused yourself significant internal damage. Now that you are out of immediate danger we will wait until I am more than strong enough before I try to heal you further. Is that satisfactory?”

“Yes,” Emma said, and experimentally took a deep breath and coughed. She smiled in relief when it didn’t elicit severe pain. “Thank you, Regina. I feel so much better.” She let slide the comment that her pain had been upsetting Regina, but the care in those words settled deep in her heart and warmed her from the inside out.

 

* * *

 

“Now that you can move without collapsing a lung, would you like to take a shower?” Regina asked, getting to her feet beside the bed.

“Are you trying to tell me I smell bad?” Emma teased, her eyes narrowing playfully.

“You can draw your own conclusions about that,” Regina replied, “but I think you’d _feel_ better if you were clean. You still have blood in your hair.” Emma reached her good arm up and grimaced at the stiff clots gluing her hair down against her scalp.

“You’re right. That’s kind of gross. But how is this going to work? I don’t know if I can even stand up yet.”

“I have a plastic chair for you to sit on and the shower head detaches. You’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure you’re feeling okay?” Emma asked, eyeing Regina worriedly as she began to set up the bathroom.

“I’m fine,” she replied, touched by Emma’s concern. “It didn’t hurt me physically, I promise, and I’ll take a nap after we’re done. Can you sit up?”

Using her good arm, Emma managed to shift into a sitting position. Her side and chest still hurt, but it was now merely a dull ache from the bruises that remained rather than the sharp pain of shifting bone. Wincing, she scooted her legs over the side of the bed and grinned at her progress.

“Very good,” Regina praised her, not quite managing to withhold a hint of sarcasm from her tone. Emma snorted in response and let Regina help her to her feet. She swayed a little, but was quickly caught up in Regina’s embrace and stabilized. If Regina held onto her a little longer than was strictly necessary, Emma didn’t point it out.

Soon enough, Regina relegated herself to Emma’s side and helped her limp to the en-suite bathroom. Her injured knee could hardly bend or hold any weight and Emma had to lean heavily on her companion. By the time Regina had settled her onto the plastic chair in the middle of the luxurious walk-in shower, Emma’s limbs were shaking with exertion and she was out of breath.

“Why am I so weak?” she wondered aloud, utterly unused to being exhausted by such minimal activity.

“You lost a lot of blood and you’ve been bedridden for several days with woefully little nutrition,” Regina explained softly. “I’ve been feeding you soup and liquids because they’re easy to swallow and I wasn’t sure you were strong enough to handle anything else. I’ll make you a grilled cheese once we’re done here, okay?” Emma nodded and didn’t resist as Regina helped her remove her tank top and shorts, leaving her in a sports bra and panties.

Emma had begun to blush, suddenly bashful at her vulnerability despite knowing that she had once answered the door to Regina while scarcely wearing much more than this. She was glad that Regina didn’t seem intent upon undressing her further, at least for the moment.

“May I wash your face?” Regina asked. “I don’t want you to open up the wounds I’ve put so much effort into mending.”

It was a weak excuse, but to Regina’s relief Emma let her. She was careful around the bruises and scrapes, managing to avoid disrupting their healing. Emma rinsed her own face with the showerhead and leaned back in the chair to wash her hair. Her arm began to tremble, but she held it up with an effort.

“Here, let me,” Regina offered and took the showerhead from Emma’s grasp.

“No, I can…” Emma trailed off with a grimace, quickly realizing that it was taking all her strength just to hold her head up never mind use her arm for anything at the same time. She scowled at herself and let her arm drop uselessly to her side.

“Emma, it’s okay,” Regina insisted, taking her hand comfortingly. “I’d like to wash your hair for you so you don’t have to try and do it one-handed. That is difficult enough under ordinary circumstances and there’s no reason to wear yourself out with it now. Please let me help?”

Too exhausted to do otherwise, Emma let her head fall back over the top of the chair. Regina set to work running the warm water through Emma’s long hair and dissolving away the dried blood. The water around their feet ran dark with it, and Emma occasionally winced as Regina’s efforts irritated the bruises and healing wounds on the back of her head. Emma’s hair eventually rinsed clear and Regina began to work some shampoo into the roots of the uninjured areas.

Emma sighed at the sensation of Regina’s fingers caressing her scalp – it felt amazing. Regina was being so gentle it almost felt like a massage and she found herself relaxing completely. She hardly noticed when Regina offered to wash her arms and legs, only acquiescing with a tired nod. Regina managed to clean the lingering blood off of Emma’s intact skin without getting stinging soap in her wounds or jostling her still-broken left wrist.

Regina eased Emma forward and almost had to hold her upright against her own body while she washed Emma’s back, mindful of the painful dark bruises marring her skin.

“Emma,” she called gently, taking her by the shoulders and sitting her upright once more. “Emma, wake up for me, dear.” Emma mumbled vaguely and let her head fall to the side.

“Don’t make me turn the cold water on you, Emma Swan.” Though Regina had no intention of actually doing so, the mild threat and the use of her last name were enough to get Emma to open her eyes.

“I know you’re tired,” Regina said sympathetically, tucking some wet hair behind Emma’s ear, “but unless you’re okay with me removing your panties and bra and washing you myself, you need to wake up.” Emma’s cheeks pinked instantly and she nodded. Regina handed over the cloth with a smile and balanced the shower head on Emma’s good knee.

“When I turn around I’ll vanish your remaining clothing so you can wash yourself, and I’ll leave a towel within reach. I’m going to go change the sheets and give you some privacy. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable, but you _are_ still hurt and if you can’t finish up I’ll help you when I get back. You have nothing to be embarrassed about, my dear. Nothing I haven’t seen before. I’m here for you, I promise.”

Without even thinking about it she bent briefly to press her lips to the top of Emma’s head before turning and leaving the bathroom. If Emma hadn’t been surprised into full alertness by the casual kiss, the sudden absence of her clothing would have done the trick. As it was, Emma was left awake enough to wash the rest of her body.

She felt the weariness returning with a force halfway through rinsing off and barely had enough strength to toss the towel over herself before her arm gave out and she slumped back in the chair. Her hair was cold against her neck and shoulders and she shivered.

Regina knocked courteously before entering the bathroom and was glad to find that Emma had felt well enough to bathe herself, though she looked pitiful shaking and draped helplessly over the chair. Regina took another towel and quickly wrapped Emma’s hair in it before securing the other around Emma’s naked body.

“Come on, now,” she said, and carefully pulled Emma to her feet. Regina kept herself braced against the corner of the shower door to keep them both from slipping as she helped Emma hobble out and onto the tile floor. Emma’s torn knee had begun to bleed again and both legs threatened to completely buckle underneath her, but Regina held her up and guided her to sit on the side of the bed.

Emma’s head hung wearily and she looked down at Regina with barely-open eyes as the older woman swiftly wrapped up her knee. A quick gesture of her hand left Emma clad in clean flannel pants and a tank top instead of the towel, and she helped Emma shift herself fully onto the bed. The clean sheets were heavenly soft against Emma’s skin and she sighed and relaxed into the fabric. Emma let her eyes fall closed, though she remained vaguely aware of Regina carefully re-bandaging her arm and face.

The towel around her head was removed and gentle fingers prodded the scab on the back of her head. They apparently found it sufficient because her hair was then swept up over the pillow and otherwise left alone. Emma felt herself fading fast. Her body was becoming pleasantly numb and she could feel consciousness slipping away. She was barely aware of something soft and warm pressing against her forehead, and then she was out.

 

* * *

 

Regina’s lips lingered on Emma’s brow as she appreciated the clean scent of her hair and skin. _She looks like she feels better,_ Regina thought to herself with a small smile. The endeavor had clearly worn Emma out, but Regina hadn’t missed the way she had settled happily into the bed all soft and warm.

Regina could feel the magic use catching up to her, so she laid down beside Emma once more. She tucked herself against Emma’s side and enjoyed the warmth of clean skin on skin as she pressed their arms together and leaned her forehead against Emma’s shoulder. It wasn’t long before she was asleep, too.

Henry quietly crept into the room an hour later, trying to walk off his frustration with the water temple in his game. Not wanting to wake either of his mothers, he stayed quiet and leaned up on his tiptoes to look at them. Emma was asleep on her back, just as she had been most of the time since Regina had brought her home. Emma looked more comfortable and there were fewer bandages around her head, which was encouraging. She was also breathing deeper than before and even snoring lightly. Henry grinned at that.

His adoptive mother was curled up right next to Emma, and her sleeping face looked more relaxed and at-peace than Henry had ever seen. He thought back to how firmly Emma had defended her to him and how dedicated to caring for Emma his mom had been.

 _They work well together,_ he thought to himself. _I’ve really liked having them both around at the same time._

He briefly wondered what it would be like if they were to be like this forever - like a real family. It sounded so wonderful and yet so impossible, but…

_Mom said she doesn’t hate her. And Emma literally saved her life. And this isn’t the first time I’ve found them this close together. Maybe this could last. Maybe they could figure this out and we could be a family._

With a hopeful smile and renewed vigor for solving his game’s dungeon, Henry quietly left the room and closed the door behind himself. In her sleep, Emma turned her head toward Regina as if drawn by a magnet and sighed. Regina leaned up and shuffled ever so slightly closer, then began to snore lightly.

And there was peace.

 

* * *

 

The first thing Emma became aware of was that she was _starving_. Her stomach cramped with hunger pains and she grumbled sleepily. An equally disoriented hum from her right had her waking up a little more. Her hunger was mostly forgotten as she became conscious of Regina’s presence beside her. Soft hair tickled Emma’s cheek and she opened her eyes to find Regina blinking drowsily at her from close range. They were sharing a pillow, but instead of jerking away, Regina stayed right where she was. Her hand fumbled for Emma’s beneath the blankets.

“You feeling okay?” Regina asked, her voice low and husky with sleep. Concern quickly drew her into alertness, and her eyes searched Emma’s face for any signs of pain. The woman in question simply smiled.

“I’m all right - just hungry. Didn’t mean to wake you up.”

“Don’t worry about it, dear. It’s well past lunchtime and I’m hungry too. As I promised, there’s a grilled cheese in your future.”

 

* * *

  

“I have to say I’m surprised you went for a grilled cheese, too,” Emma said around a huge mouthful.

“Why is that?” Regina asked, looking up as she took another bite.

“I dunno - I just thought you’d go for more kale-y stuff. That’s all I see you eating at Granny’s.”

“That’s because Granny insists upon deep-frying everything but the salads. That much grease gives me heartburn and I’d rather avoid it if possible.”

“But these are plenty greasy,” Emma noted, squeezing a bead of oil from her bread to prove her point.

“That’s only because I put an absurd amount of butter and extra cheese on yours. You need the calories right now, and I thought it would be more to your tastes.”

“What?” she asked after Emma had gaped at her silently for a moment.

“Have I mentioned that Henry is the luckiest kid ever?”

“Why on earth would you say that?” Regina asked, instantly thinking of how many times she had let him down.

“Because he grew up with you taking care of him. You know his favorite foods, _and_ how to make them. You’re so good at all of this – playing and reading comics with him, soothing his fears. And you _care_ , you know? Nobody’s ever given a damn about how I like my food or if I’m eating enough, or if I feel safe or comfortable. And if I’ve had it this good with you taking care of me the past few days, I can only imagine how well you take care of someone you actually _like_.” Emma’s smile said she meant it as a joke, but Regina wouldn’t let a comment like that slide. Not anymore.

“I _do_ like you, Emma,” she insisted sincerely and set her plate aside. “I know things haven’t always been… _easy_ between us, but I care about you a great deal.”

I was quite possibly the nicest thing she’d ever heard Regina say and Emma wasn’t sure how to respond.

“I like you and I care a lot about you, too.” She said finally. “You know, in case you couldn’t already tell.”

“I think sacrificing yourself for me made it plenty clear,” Regina said with a smile as she shuffled down under the blankets again. Her eyelids were drooping.

“Are you feeling okay?” Emma asked, becoming concerned.

“I’m fine,” Regina replied. “Just tired. I think I’m going to take a nap. Do you need anything before I go to sleep?”

“No, I’m good. I hope you rest well.” Emma searched for and found Regina’s hand under the covers and squeezed it gently. Regina smiled and within minutes she was fast asleep.

Emma remained awake, still sitting up against the pillows Regina had propped behind her so that she could eat. She looked down at the peaceful face of the woman who had taken such good care of her and smiled softly.

 _Maybe it’s about time I return the favor a little bit,_ she thought, though she knew she wouldn’t be getting out of bed to help around the house for a while yet.

As she was considering teaching herself telekinetic magic to help with daily chores, it suddenly struck her that this house, this room, the sleeping woman beside her, felt a lot like _home_. Instead of feeling trapped or restricted by that thought, Emma was surprised to feel rather pleased with it. She really had come to enjoy Regina’s company for more than just the entertaining banter it provided. Regina had begun to be unexpectedly sweet to her, even before her injury.

And the physical touches that ordinarily would have made Emma uncomfortable had they been given by anybody else… Emma admitted to herself that she had enjoyed them. Craved them, even. Regina’s hand felt so _right_ in her own. She closed her eyes, recalling the way Regina’s fingers felt stroking her hair, and relaxed immediately against the pillows.

The way Regina’s rich, warm voice made her feel safe and comforted was intoxicating, really. Emma could tell Regina had meant it when she told her she liked her, and the thought of it made Emma grin widely.

 _That’s a start_ , she thought happily. _That’s more than a start._

She let herself daydream briefly about what it would be like to be a more permanent fixture in Regina’s life. To meet up for lunch and talk about their days, to share cider on cold nights, to have dinner with their son, to go on vacations as a family-

 _Family?!_ Emma thought with a start, her eyes flying open. When had she begun to see Regina as _family?_

The thought wasn’t so much alarming as it was simply surprising, and Emma warmed to the idea quicky.

 _She does feel like family. And being here really does feel like home._ It felt like an invisible force had been drawing her to Regina all along and now that she was no longer resisting it the two of them had fallen together quite nicely.

_If she feels the same…_

Emma’s thoughts were interrupted by the door creaking open. The woman beside her didn’t stir, much to Emma’s relief, and she raised her eyes to find Henry quietly walking toward her.

“Hey kid,” she whispered, not wanting to disturb Regina.

“Hey, Ma. Nice to see you awake,” he said, smiling excitedly at her.

“Nice to _be_ awake,” she said. “Have you had lunch?”

“Yeah, Mom made me a grilled cheese while I was playing Zelda. Did you get yours? She said she was gonna make it extra special for you.”

“Yeah,” Emma replied, glancing fondly at the other side of the bed, “she did.”

“She sure is sleeping a lot more,” Henry noted with a frown. “Mom used to _never_ take naps.”

“Does she seem more tired than usual?” Emma asked.

“Yeah. I think it’s from using her magic too much. She hadn’t used it in a long time and then she had to use a whole bunch all of a sudden. It’s not a _bad_ thing,” he added, backtracking a bit. “You know how I feel about magic now. I’m just… worried about her, I guess.”

“It’s not like her to sleep all day,” Emma agreed. Regina had always struck her as more of an insomniac than anything else with her occasional early mornings as mayor and late nights as a mom.

They both agreed that they should let her sleep as long as possible, and Henry ended up making sandwiches for them both around dinnertime. Regina slept on under Emma’s watchful eyes, even after Henry went to bed.

Though Emma herself was beginning to fatigue from being awake for so long, her concern for Regina only grew.

 _She’s been using so much magic on me_ , she thought worriedly. _I hope it’s not hurting her. She said it wasn’t, but still…_

Emma pushed the pillows out from behind herself and laid down beside Regina. She was still deeply asleep even through Emma’s movements. Emma frowned.

_I wish I could heal her magic as easily as I healed her injuries when we first got here._

Emma took Regina’s hand in hers once more and closed her eyes. She shifted closer so that her head rested near Regina’s and leaned up to kiss her tenderly on her forehead. As Emma relaxed into sleep she didn’t notice the white glow emanating from their joined hands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The second image correlates to this chapter  
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/15805998


	6. Chapter 6

Regina woke as if swimming up from the depths of an ocean. Darkness faded slowly into light, but the peacefulness remained. She felt herself break the surface of sleep and marveled at how refreshed she felt. Her heart was full and waking up brought with it the sensation of looking forward to a long-anticipated day. She smiled as she became aware of light shining through her still-closed eyelids. She felt energized and awake, ready to take on any sort of day, so she opened her eyes.

And instantly panicked, for the light she saw was actually Emma’s magic flowing from the other woman’s hand and into hers. It seemed to pulse with every beat of Emma’s heart. Everything made sense - the way she felt restored and alive, maybe even too much so, like a battery left on charge. She ripped her hand away from Emma’s and the light faded out.

“Emma?!” she called, finding her voice a bit shrill. “Emma!”

“What?” the other woman mumbled sleepily, opening her eyes a crack. “What is it, Regina?” Then she was rendered fully awake by Regina’s frantic examinations.

“What did you do? Emma, your magic… what-” Warm hands flitted from Emma’s face to her shoulders to her hand, which was examined carefully for a moment before wide brown eyes met hers once more.

“What did you _do?”_ Regina repeated.

“Nothing? I don’t know? What’s wrong?” Emma asked finally, in abject confusion. She squeezed Regina’s hand reassuringly.

“What’s wrong? You- you-” Regina stammered, searching for a way to express herself before raising a hand to Emma’s face and letting her power flow.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Emma protested as she felt the wound on her jaw close up. “You’re supposed to be resting.”

“I don’t need to. I have so much magic in me I don’t know if I can stand it!” Regina exclaimed. She cradled Emma’s head in her hands and rapidly healed the scrapes on the back of her head.

“You- this is supposed to be impossible,” Regina said, shaking her head. “You’ve replenished my magic with yours.”

“But wait, didn’t you do that for me at the beginning?” Emma asked, jumping in surprise when she felt Regina’s magic unexpectedly probe her own.

“I healed a tear in it,” she explained, “but if you had been depleted of your magic I couldn’t have transfused mine to yours. That’s just not how magic _works_.”

She pulled back to look in wonder at Emma, who stared back just as perplexed.

“Are you sure that’s what happened?” Emma asked. “Maybe you just have all this energy because you got extra sleep.”

Without comment, Regina pulled the blankets down and put her hand over Emma’s broken wrist. With a flash of light it was healed painlessly and entirely, leaving Regina completely unaffected.

“Wow…” Emma murmured as she flexed her left hand and felt it with her right.

“Exactly. Somehow you got your magic to refill mine. Fortunately, it doesn’t seem to have harmed you to do so, though your magic levels are a good bit lower than before. Any idea how you did it?

“No clue,” Emma replied. “I didn’t even realize I was doing it. It must have been while we were asleep.”

“What were you thinking right before you dozed off?” Regina asked.

“I was worried,” Emma admitted. “You were so tired, and I was afraid for you. You’ve done so much for me - I just wished that I could help you too.”

Regina shook her head in wonder. “Well, you certainly did. I suppose it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. You survived that curse somehow, so I guess it stands to reason that your magic has additional unexpected abilities.”

“I’m just glad you’re feeling better,” Emma said with a pleased grin. Regina smiled back and with a little shake of her head and a brief caress of Emma’s cheek began to heal her other wounds. The road-burn on Emma’s arm disappeared in a wave of light. The deep tear in her knee filled up and smoothed out without so much as a scar to show for it. Regina persistently searched for every bruise on Emma’s body and soothed away the hurt.

“Wow,” Emma said again when Regina was finished. “I feel a thousand times better.”

“I should hope so. Let’s try and get you on your feet. Be careful - you might still feel a bit stiff and weak,” Regina warned her. Emma took the hand offered to her and stood warily beside the bed. She took a few experimental steps with Regina close behind to catch her if she stumbled.

“Nothing hurts anymore!” Emma exclaimed. “Not even a little. Thank you!”

She turned back to the older woman and flung her arms around her. Regina chuckled and returned the embrace gladly.

“You’re welcome, dear. I’m so glad you feel better.”

 

* * *

 

Henry was equal parts surprised and delighted to find both of his mothers walking down the stairs minutes later. He leapt up and hugged them.

“Mom, Ma! You look better! Both of you do.”

“Your mom’s amazing, kid! Our magic did this _thing_ I don’t quite understand, and then she healed me!”

“All the way? How did you do it? Did it hurt? You’re not too tired?” he asked rapid-fire, looking from one mother to the other.

“We’re fine, Henry,” Regina reassured him. “Let’s go make Emma a great big Mills breakfast to keep her strength up.”

Emma’s legs were fatiguing quickly from disuse and she let Regina lead her to sit at the bar while she and Henry made an enormous spread of food. Halfway through her third pancake and second plate of bacon, it struck Emma again how much this felt like home.

“I like this,” she said aloud, and Regina looked up from her own breakfast with an eyebrow raised.

“This. Being here, eating breakfast with both of you. I like that the two of you have made peace, and that you and I are friends,” she said looking to Regina with a smile.

“I am too, dear,” Regina said, reaching over to pat Emma’s hand. “Maybe you’d like to be part of some of our breakfasts in the future?”

Emma grinned widely, dispelling the uncertainty that had tinted Regina’s voice and turning her hand over to capture Regina’s fingers with her own.

“I’d love that.” They gazed at each other affectionately for a moment before they were interrupted by Henry’s voice.

“Mom, look!”

He was standing by the kitchen window. Regina had pushed the previously drawn curtains aside for some natural light as they cooked and now Henry had spotted something outside. She walked over and her gasp had Emma running to see too.

There, littering Regina’s yard, were several hand-written signs.

_‘Emma, Regina, Henry - are you okay?’_

_‘We can’t get in - there’s a ward.’_

_‘You’re safe, please come out.’_

“What on earth…” Emma murmured.

“Look! There’s David!” Henry exclaimed pointing to a figure on the other side of the lawn. Sure enough, David was standing there talking on his phone and watching the house. They saw him shake his head and shrug before hanging up and sitting down in a folding lawn chair. He took a handful of what looked like pistachios and began cracking them open to eat them, flicking the empty shells against a wall of magic that flickered into view on contact and sent them bouncing back against his knees.

“Looks like your ward expanded,” Regina commented as they made their way to the front door. “Very impressive.”

“I didn’t mean to do that, either. You’ve gotta help me learn how to control this stuff,” Emma said.

“I will, I promise. Let’s go find out what happened.”

 

* * *

 

When the door opened, David shot to his feet in surprise. Regina couldn’t help but laugh when he rushed forward and the ward spun him a full 180 degrees and knocked him from his feet. Any residual fear of this being one of Cora’s tricks disappeared when David hit the ground.

“Emma, Henry!” he shouted, leaping up again just as they passed unaffected through Emma’s ward. “You’re okay!”

“Nice to see you too, Charming,” Regina sassed as she watched Emma and Henry hug him.

“Sorry, Regina. I promise we were worried about you, too,” he said apologetically.

“What happened out here?” Emma asked. “Where is Cora?” She noticed Regina tense up at the mention of the woman and moved closer to her for support.

“We have her locked up in the station,” David said. “Granny saw the fight - that spell hit Cora and knocked her out for a while. Between Rumpel and the fairies we are able to hold her, at least for now.”

“That is… a relief,” Regina said, though she still looked worried. Emma put a hand on her back - she knew Regina’s emotions surrounding her mother were complicated and often painful. With Cora remaining a potential threat, there was a significant undercurrent of fear on Regina’s features and it pulled at Emma’s heart.

“I’ve got to let everybody know you three are okay,” David cut into her thoughts. “Nobody could get past the ward no matter what we tried. We’ve been taking shifts to see if it would wear off, but it only ever pushed farther out,” he said, pulling out his phone again.

As he made the call, Emma turned to Regina.

“Are you okay?”

“I… don’t know yet,” she admitted. “I am glad she seems to be contained, at least.” She let Emma gather her into a comforting side hug and relaxed, leaning against the blonde. When she saw David watching them in confusion she reluctantly pulled away.

“Town hall and the surrounding buildings are still extensively damaged, so everybody’s going to meet at the diner. We need to know exactly what happened and figure out what to do next,” he said, and led them away.

Henry bounded ahead with David and enthusiastically told him everything that had happened - he couldn’t wait until they got to the diner. Behind them, Emma took Regina’s hand with a shy smile and walked with her. The two of them moved slower than Henry and David due to Emma’s stiff legs but neither minded. They were quiet as they walked, reveling in each other’s presence and conserving mental energy for the tasks ahead.

“... and now Mom and Ma get along so good and we’re like a real family and it’s so great!” his exclamation broke into their separate thoughts and they smiled at each other. Regina squeezed Emma’s hand.

“I was thinking the same thing,” she admitted and wasn’t too surprised when Emma grinned and nodded in agreement.

 

* * *

 

The meeting at the diner was initially more of a celebration than anything else. Emma was tearfully embraced by her mother and even Regina was greeted amicably by almost everyone. It wasn’t until Archie stepped out from the crowd that Emma and Regina were both moved to tears.

“Archie!” Henry shrieked, barreling into the man and staggering him backwards a few feet.

“You’re alive?” Regina whispered with a hand over her mouth, looking almost afraid to believe her eyes.

“I am,” he replied. “It was all an illusion by Cora - she kidnapped me. I’m fine, Henry, I promise.” He did his best to console the boy now clinging to him and seemed truly touched by Regina’s reaction.

“I’m so sorry I snapped at you the other day,” Regina said, ignoring the eyebrows that rose in surprise around her at her sincere apology.

“No worries,” Archie replied. “I am sorry for my indiscretion about your progress. It was wrong of me to speak of you without your permission.” He noticed with interest the way Emma stood so close to Regina but quickly schooled his features and didn’t mention it.

“What are we going to do with Cora?”

The question from somewhere in the crowd broke the moment and Emma moved closer still to Regina to support her.

“Take me to her,” Regina requested.

 

* * *

 

They could sense the magic even before reaching the sheriff's office. It was an angry tingling that made the hair on the back of Emma’s neck rise up.

“We have been taking turns renewing the wards around the cell every hour,” an exhausted fairy informed them as they entered the hallway. “She’s not back to her full strength yet, but we think she’s getting stronger every day.”

“What are we going to do?” Emma whispered when the fairy had left them.

“I don’t know,” Regina admitted, her brow furrowed and eyes haunted. “Maybe Rumpel will have a solution.”

“I do, in fact, have a solution,” Rumpel said, rounding the corner. He looked somewhat haggard as well, yet optimistic.

“And the price?” Regina asked warily.

“Consider this one pre-paid,” he said as he took something out of his pocket and unwrapped it from a cloth.

“The wraith amulet?!” Emma exclaimed, immediately putting herself between it and Regina. “How did you get that? We left it in the Enchanted Forest with Aurora!”

“I believe a certain pirate stole it from her,” he said with a disturbingly gleeful grin. “A traveling companion of Mother Dearest and an old adversary of mine, you see. You unwittingly did me an enormous favor by luring the pirate here so that I could kill him. I owe you my thanks and, as a reward for your troubles, I offer you the amulet.”

“Will it take her soul, then?” Regina asked with a frown. _I don’t know if I want that to happen, even to her. It’s a fate worse than death._

“Not this time,” he replied. “Wraiths are soul suckers, yes, but they can take more than that. This one has consumed a soul, and now it hungers for a mind - a collection of memories, thoughts, and personality.”

“How is a soul-sucking wraith with Cora’s mind in it any better than our current problem? Honestly, this sounds like a terrible idea.” Emma said, still edging herself and Regina away from the proffered medallion.

“Wraiths don’t _become_ the minds they consume,” he replied in a condescending tone. “They just like to chew on them. Food for thought, or rather _thought for food_ ,” he said with a delighted giggle at his own cleverness. Nobody else laughed.

“So why haven’t you done it yet?” Regina asked impatiently, pushing half-heartedly against Emma’s ongoing attempts to protect her. It was touching and very sweet, but a little bit _much_ when she was trying to have a conversation.

“That, dearie, is where _you_ come in,” he giggled. “She clearly wants one last word with you. She has put a blood ward around the inside of the cell to keep us out. Every so often she tries to escape, but she has been unsuccessful so far. You need to get in there and mark her hand with it so that it will capture her mind.”

“How is this going to be remotely safe?” Emma interrogated him. “She almost killed us the last time we saw her.”

“The last time you saw her neither of you had any idea what you were doing. I may have taught Regina and Cora how to use magic, but I didn’t teach them _everything_ that I know.”

“And how do we know that this isn’t a trap?” Emma pressed, still keeping herself in front of Regina. “How do we know you’re not working with her to hurt Regina?”

“He promised,” came a voice from behind them. Emma and Regina turned around to find Belle standing there, looking up at Rumpel trustingly.

“I did,” he said, gazing softly at her, then turned to Regina. “I think you too can see the value in leaving the past behind and finding a better future, no?” He looked meaningfully at her while inclining his head toward Emma, who blinked in confusion.

“We decided to allow Rumpel to take out his violent revenge on only one person,” Belle explained, “and he chose the pirate.”

“Indeed I did,” he smiled, “so I am willing to let bygones be bygones with you, dearie,” he said to Regina. “As a token of my good faith, I am choosing to help you with your current problem.”

“And because she threatened me,” Belle added with mild exasperation.

“And because she threatened Belle,” he agreed, eyes narrowing dangerously.

“I still don’t like this,” Emma muttered, though she finally let Regina move forward to carefully take the medallion. “How can we keep you safe when you get through the blood ward?”

“I just need to touch it to take it down,” she said. “If everyone else is ready to freeze her as soon as I do, she shouldn’t be able to get to me.”

The two of them lingered in the hallway after Belle, Rumpel, and the other fairies filed into the office space.

“Are you okay with this?” Emma asked quietly. “I can’t imagine having to…”

“I definitely don’t like it,” Regina said, her eyes downcast, “but I see no other option. She has to be stopped, or she’ll destroy everything I love.” She looked desperately to Emma at that. “If the wraith takes her mind, she won’t remember anything about who she was. She won’t remember wanting to kill me or anyone else.”

“She won’t remember being your mother, either,” Emma noted, but Regina simply scowled.

“She hasn’t been my mother in a very long time.” Emma nodded in understanding and took Regina’s hand. She squeezed it comfortingly and Regina eventually looked up in gratitude for her presence.

 

* * *

 

When they walked into the sheriff’s office, the scent of magic was so strong it left a metallic taste in their mouths. Emma made a face, but Regina ignored it in favor of looking toward the cell. Cora was sitting on the cot with her eyes closed, clearly focusing on channeling her magic against the forces pressing on her ward.

“Is everybody ready?” Rumpel asked gleefully. He had sent Belle out of the room for her safety, but the space was crowded with almost a dozen fairies preparing to assist magically.

“Emma, maybe you should wait in the-” Regina began, but Emma interrupted her almost immediately.

“I’m not leaving you,” she said firmly, and the stubborn conviction in her eyes precluded any argument from Regina. Her heart fluttered - she couldn’t help it - and she gave the blonde a small but grateful smile and squeezed the hand that had found her own again.

“How nauseating,” came the acerbic voice. “Will you never learn your lesson, Regina?”

“Mother,” Regina greeted her tersely as their attention turned to the cell. _She’s wrong - love is strength._

“I must say your tastes are improving, at least,” Cora continued as they approached. “This one has quite the resilient little heart. It stands to reason that you would want it.”

“Since when have you ever cared about what _I_ want?” Regina snapped at her. “You’ve crossed realms to hunt me down and destroy my life. I’ve already _found_ what I want, _Mother_ ,” she spat, “and you are not welcome to be a part of it.”

“You give no thought to the thousands you could have controlled with me, then?” Cora retorted, and the room was suddenly filled with the echoes of a thousand beating hearts. Regina faltered, the sound bringing flashbacks of being locked in a room with nothing but pulsing glowing red and that horrible noise assaulting her ears.

“Stop it! Leave her alone!” Emma shouted, stepping forward to grasp Regina’s shoulder. White magic sparked from her hands and the sound suddenly ceased.

“That’s not what I want,” Regina said, Emma’s presence beside her lending strength to her voice though the memories had left her shaken. “I already have everything I’ve ever wanted.”

“You are satisfied with merely taking the heart of this woman, then?” Cora said, surprised. “Is this what you have become, Regina?”

“What are you _talking_ about?” Emma cut in, exasperated. “Not everything is about taking hearts, you know.”

“Indeed,” Cora replied, looking between the two women knowingly. “There is no need to take what is freely given.”

“Enough of this,” Regina said sharply, breaking through Emma’s immediate confusion. “We are done here. I can’t let you threaten me or my family any more. It’s over. Goodbye, Mother.”

She reached her hand toward the shimmer of Cora’s blood ward, and took in a sharp breath as the magic latched onto her hand. She seized her mother’s wrist and pressed the amulet against her palm even as Cora’s magic tried to force her back. Energy crackled in the air as the magic users around them lent their power to the fight. Cora snatched her hand back with the amulet and looked as though she was going to try to mark Regina with it instead. Fear clawed at Emma’s throat when Cora’s magic began to spread up Regina’s arm and pull her toward the cursed object. It seemed like Cora’s magic was going to overpower Regina, and in an impulse borne of terror and love Emma recklessly threw one hand out against it.

The input of Emma’s untrained, emotion-driven magic was like a blasting cap on an explosive charge. The magical wards imploded, sucking energy first inward and then throwing it out in a shockwave of light and sound. Regina shook away the spots in her vision to find herself on her knees in front of the cell. Sparks from exposed electrical wiring shimmered down the wall from where the lights had exploded, and her ears were still ringing. Cora lay on the floor in the cell, unconscious, and Regina breathed a sigh of relief. It was then that she noticed the absence of a presence at her side.

“Emma?!” she shouted in panic as she whirled around. Emma lay in a heap on the floor a few feet away. Regina rushed to her side and pulled Emma’s head and shoulders into her lap. Tears pricked her eyes as she called to the woman in her arms. It felt disturbingly similar to an evening not long ago where she cradled a bleeding and broken Emma on the floor in her entryway. The only difference (and what a blessed difference it was), was that this Emma was furrowing her brow and groaning as she came to.

“-not allowed to get hurt for me ever again, you hear me? Once was more than enough, Emma Swan. You wake up _right now_ or so help me-”

Emma blinked her eyes open to find Regina’s eyes bright with fear and unshed tears as she shouted at her and held her, infusing her aching skull with magic as she did.

“I’m okay, I’m okay,” Emma said, and Regina let her sit up. Sparks buzzed around the back of her head where she had struck it on the ground, and the pain quickly disappeared under the magic on Regina’s fingertips. Regina examined her for any other injuries and upon finding none, threw her arms around Emma and held her tightly. Regina was trembling and Emma whispered reassurances to her as they sat on the floor. They stayed right where they were as Rumpel and the fairies got up and examined Cora.

“She’s marked,” Rumpel confirmed, carefully pocketing the amulet. “The wraith will come for her shortly. Let’s take her to the hospital so that when she wakes we can spin her a new story.”

“You’re not marked, are you?” Emma asked frantically, pulling away from Regina to take her hands as the fairies carried Cora away.

“No, no, I’m not,” Regina reassured her, examining Emma’s hands as well as her own.

“We did it,” Emma whispered in relief, leaning forward to rest her forehead against Regina’s. “We’re safe. It’s over.” They closed their eyes and rested for a moment, alone together on the floor in the ruined office. When their hearts were no longer racing, they helped each other up and made their way to the hospital to examine the aftermath.

 

* * *

 

The wraith had already come and gone by the time they arrived. The nurses were still in various stages of shock, but Rumpel stood in their midst with a smile on his face.

“She really doesn’t remember anything,” Rumpel reassured them when they arrived at the hospital. “The wraith came and took her mind, and she woke up shortly thereafter. She seems to be aware of how things work in this world somehow. She’s under the impression that she got into a car wreck and lost her memory, so we are playing along.”

“If she sees me, will her memories return?” Regina asked warily.

“No,” Rumpel replied. “Certainly not. I scanned her head and there is nothing about her previous life. She maintains the potential for learning magic since that is a characteristic of her soul, but she has no memory of any of it.”

Regina stepped into the hospital room and couldn’t help but take a sharp breath when she saw her mother. Cora was sitting on the side of the bed wearing a hospital gown and looked up when she heard the two of them come in.

“Hello?” she said, looking from Regina to Emma. There was no recognition at all in her eyes but Regina appreciated Emma’s grip on her shoulder nonetheless.

“Good afternoon,” Regina began, proud that her voice didn’t shake. “I am Mayor Regina Mills and this is my sheriff, Emma Swan. We heard about your accident.”

“It’s very nice to meet you both,” Cora replied, and Regina wondered at the friendly timbre of her voice. She had never heard her mother speak to her in such a way.

“Do you remember anything?” Emma asked, though her mind was still distracted by the way Regina had said _‘my_ sheriff’.

“I’m sorry, I can’t remember anything that happened before the accident,” Cora said. “Do you know if I have any family?” She didn’t notice the way Regina flinched, but Emma certainly did.

“None that we could find,” Regina managed before her throat closed up rendering her incapable of speech.

“Your belongings were destroyed in the wreck,” Emma continued for her, “so we aren’t sure of your past either. If you’d like, we can connect you to social services in a larger city in hopes of helping you build a new life or rediscover who you are.”

“I’d appreciate that very much, Sheriff Swan. Mayor, my thanks to you for the excellent care I’ve received while in your town. I’ve been medically cleared to leave, so I think I’ll be on my way as soon as they bring me some clothes."

Regina could only nod, so Emma wished Cora well for both of them and led Regina out of the room.

 

* * *

 

It was only when the two of them were alone again that Regina allowed herself to break down. She covered her mouth to stifle a sob but Emma saw through it easily. She moved closer and opened her arms, and without hesitation Regina stepped into her embrace.

“Emma… I don’t even know how to feel right now,” Regina cried into Emma’s chest. “Relieved? Sad? Angry?”

“Torn,” Emma suggested, stroking through Regina’s hair with one hand and holding her close with the other as she trembled with emotion. “It’s okay to feel all kinds of different ways about this. I’ll be here for you through it all.”

The steadfastness in Emma’s voice made Regina cry even harder and she gripped Emma’s shirt desperately.

“Promise?” she asked quietly.

“I promise,” Emma reassured her, pressing a kiss into her hair. “Do you want to talk about it? About her? People say that helps when you’ve lost someone.”

“She was so terrible to me and she ceased to be a mother to me long ago, but I guess some part of me loved her anyway,” Regina sniffled as Emma pulled her to sit down on an empty hospital bed. “But now she’s… she’s really gone.”

“I’m so sorry, Regina.”

“Don’t. Don’t say that,” Regina rebuked her gently. “She was dangerous - she almost killed you. You don’t have to be sad she’s gone. I’m… I’m not. Not really. It just… it still hurts somehow.” Emma nodded against her and continued to hold her as she cried.

“She was insane,” Emma agreed. “Absolutely, undeniably insane. But she did get one thing right - you wouldn’t have to take my heart if you wanted it.” Regina looked up at her, wide-eyed.

“What do you mean, Emma? The only place I want your heart to be is safe inside your chest,” Regina said and leaned against her again. Emma detected a partial lie, but she knew Regina would never hurt her. _What if..._

“What about metaphorically?” Emma asked softly, still holding Regina close. “What if she meant it like that?” Regina tensed slightly and didn’t reply. _I won’t lie to her, not after everything. She can always tell anyway._ Emma’s eyes widened and a little awed grin stole onto her face unbeknownst to Regina.

“Do you?” Emma pressed, still keeping her voice gentle. “Do you want my heart like… like that?” Regina could hear Emma’s heart beat faster from where her ear rested against Emma’s chest.

“Because… if you did,” Emma continued, bending down to press another comforting kiss into Regina’s hair, “she was right about that, too. I think that maybe it’s been yours for a while now, and I just didn’t realize it.”

“I suppose,” Regina murmured, “of all the millions of hearts that are out there, yours is the one I would want. After everything that’s happened, you have become… somewhat important to me.” The words were intended to seem distant, but Emma knew her too well to buy it. The affectionate, tentative expression on her face and the way she remained trustingly encased in Emma’s arms belied her inner emotions, and a quick glance into Regina’s expressive eyes showed Emma everything she hoped to find.

“It goes both ways,” Emma said. “If I were in the business of taking hearts, I’d be after yours too.”

“Really?” Regina asked, embarrassed by the hopefulness in her own voice.

“Absolutely,” Emma said fervently, cuddling her close and smiling against the top of her head. “There’s nothing I want more. I love you, you know.”

The way she said it as if stating the obvious made Regina’s breath catch in her throat.

“You really mean that,” Regina whispered. It was half a question and half a realization.

“Yes, I- mmm…” before Emma could continue her thought, Regina had leaned up and captured her lips. Emma’s eyes slid shut in bliss and she lost herself to the intimacy of the moment. Warms fingers wound into Emma’s hair and she felt like her heart was going to explode with how _close_ Regina was.

“I love you too, Emma. I love you. _I love you_ ,” Regina repeated over and over into her mouth, kissing her desperately. Regina’s scent filled Emma’s mind and it was truly intoxicating, but then Emma tasted the saltiness of Regina’s tears on her lips and felt the hitching of her breath under the hand on Regina’s back and reluctantly broke the kiss.

“Hey, hey, easy,” Emma said against Regina’s cheek, pulling her back into her arms. “I’m _definitely_ not complaining, but you don’t need to prove anything to me,” she said. “You’ve just been through something utterly traumatic and we don’t need to move any faster than we already are. I believe you. I know you love me, and I love you. I’m not going anywhere, so let’s take this slow and enjoy the ride, yeah?”

“Yeah, okay,” Regina agreed, settling back into Emma’s embrace. “Okay.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The third image correlates to this chapter  
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/15805998


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